Marron's Choice
by Kinomi
Summary: *Updated Chapter 18...Can you stand it? :P* A T & M fic with a small twist - what if Marron had to choose between her career and the man she loves...would she make the right choice?
1. The Reunion

Standard disclaimers apply: I don't own them…I don't make money off of them.   
  
  
This is an older fiction of mine and unrelated to any other Marron stories I have done. If   
you don't like Marron you probably won't like it, and if you do…you might think she's   
out of character buuutttt…it's a cute fic anyway…Now on to the story…  
  
  
  
MARRON'S CHOICE  
  
  
  
She was like the daughter he'd never have. From the time she was an infant he had always been   
around, been a part of her life. Someone she could look up to and tell her problems to. He   
came and went, sometimes staying a few months with them at Kame House, sometimes only a   
few days. But always he had made time for her, always was willing to listen to the poor lonely   
child living in isolation on an island inhabited by her parents, a sea turtle, a perverted old man,   
and a certain shape shifting pig.   
  
She told him things about herself she had never told anyone else, not Trunks or Goten, not even   
her parents. He was her confidant. As she grew older he came around less frequently.   
Preferring to stay away as he marked the passing of years in how she grew from a sweet   
chubby toddler to a lovely girl to a beautiful talented young woman. He still called her on every   
birthday and every few months to see how she was doing. When she had romance troubles he   
would patiently listen when she cried her heart out to him over the phone, the connection tinny   
from whatever part of the world he happened to be in at the time.   
  
He was always there when she needed him. Her Uncle Yamucha…not by blood relation but by   
choice.  
  
***  
  
It was Bulma and ChiChi who had organized the reunion of course. It was something to keep   
ChiChi's mind off of the fact that this time Gokou wasn't ever coming back. That life would   
have to go on without him… and that without him they were all drifting apart.   
  
The party appeared to be in full swing already as Yamucha parked the air bike outside Capsule   
Corporation.  
  
"It's been a long time, hasn't it Yamucha?" Puar asked as she floated at his side. He nodded.  
  
"Three years." He murmured as they approached the party. "I wonder what's changed?"  
  
As he rounded the dome and watched his friends as they talked and laughed together he saw   
the answer. Everything and nothing. He joined them gladly picking up the reins of friendship as   
if they had never been apart. So many years they had been friends; he saw Kuririn talking with   
Tien and Bulma a short distance away. They were starting to show their age, especially Kuririn,   
who was even younger he was. Thankfully, Yamucha looked a HFIL of a lot younger than he   
felt these days. But it was still safe to say the bird of youth had flown in his human friends and in   
himself as well. The Saiyajin's of which Vegeta was the last full blooded, aged much slower   
and the Saiyajin Prince still looked remarkably unchanged from the first time Yamucha had met   
him.  
  
Yamucha went from group to group visiting until he wandered into a discussion ChiChi, Bulma,   
Juuhachi-gou, and Kuririn were having about their children.  
  
"I think they would just make the cutest couple. Why haven't they ever gotten together?"   
Bulma asked.  
  
"Who?" Yamucha asked joining them.  
  
"Trunks and Marron." Bulma said with a look that told him he should have known what she was   
talking about.  
  
"I think Marron and Goten could suit each other well also. It's definitely past time for that boy   
to settle down with one girl. I think it should be Marron, after all Kuririn was Gokou's best   
friend." ChiChi said.  
  
"Well, I don't think Marron is old enough to get married yet." Kuririn said lamely knowing he   
was outnumbered. Juuhachi-gou gave him a pointed stare.  
  
"She's twenty-four years old Kuririn! She's finished with school. She still lives at home. It's   
time she left the nest and got married, you're too overprotective of her." Juuhachi-gou told   
him.  
  
"Marron still lives at Kame House?" Yamucha muttered to himself in surprise. He actually   
hadn't called in nearly a year. He had expected Marron to have had moved out by now after   
she finished college last year.  
  
Across the lawn the three in question sat around a table. Trunks and Goten were facing the   
group while Marron had her back to them.   
  
"Who do you think they're trying to match up with Marron this time?" Goten asked tapping his   
fingers on the table as he leaned near Trunks grinning. "Me or you?"  
  
"Probably me. I'm the eligible bachelor remember…at least you have a girlfriend and an   
excuse." Trunks said with a sigh and sipped his drink. Marron's eyes narrowed at him across   
the table.   
  
"I didn't mean that the way it sounded Marron." Trunks called after her as she stormed off. He   
dropped his head then looked at Goten.  
  
"That sounded really bad didn't it?" Trunks asked him.  
  
"Oh yeah…"  
  
"Kusoooo…" Trunks said and got up to go after her, Goten following. He caught up to her as   
she headed inside. He grabbed her arm and turned her around. He expected tears as Marron   
had always been a bit of a crybaby when they were children. She was sweet and kind and   
gentle, one of his best friends growing up. What he didn't expect was her anger. As he pulled   
her around she slapped him hard across the face her blue eyes blazing.  
  
"Whoa!" Goten exclaimed a half step behind Trunks. Marron glared at him as well before   
yanking her arm loose from the shocked Trunks.  
  
"Fuck both of you! I'm not some booby prize! I wouldn't marry either one of you even if you   
asked me so just leave me alone!" She hissed and stalked off toward Bulma's lab where she   
knew she could have a few moments of peace and privacy.  
  
The problem was she might just die of happiness if a certain one of them would ask her to marry   
him. She'd been in love with Trunks since she was thirteen years old and he was eighteen.   
He'd been her first kiss, a brief touch on the lips under a cherry blossom tree with the petals   
falling around them like pink rain. Like a child she'd told him she'd love him forever. But he   
preferred dating older girls, girls his own age.   
  
Marron had barely ever gotten to see him because she lived so far away on the isolated island.   
Then there were his adventures in space, her education, and his job, a million things that got in   
the way, a million things that changed. She'd supposed he'd forgotten by now the time under   
the cherry tree ten years ago. She thought she had, but all it had taken was seeing him again   
and all the old feelings came right back.  
  
She sat in Bulma's comfy chair and pulled her knees up to her chest. She was miserable plain   
and simple. The man she was in love with barely knew she existed other than as a friend. He   
still thought of her as an annoying little girl. She glanced down at the pink sundress her father   
insisted she wear with disgust. It didn't help that at age twenty-four she still dressed like a girl   
and lived at home. She was such a coward…afraid to stand up to her parents and tell them   
what kind of life she wanted. Marron had secretly defied her them in college and studied music,   
and she was actually a very talented singer and songwriter but Yamucha was the only one who   
knew it, the only one she trusted with her secret. She pulled the ties that held her hair in two   
loose ponytails behind her ears and let it fall free.  
  
"What's a gorgeous girl like you doing hiding in here when there's a party going on?" Yamucha   
said as he stepped from the shadows near the door as if in answer to her thoughts.  
  
Marron started at the intrusion but her surprise melted into a huge smile as she saw him.  
  
"It's you! I'm so happy to see you!" She cried and flew across the room into his arms as he   
swept her up in a huge hug. She pressed her cheek to his leather jacket a moment before   
stepping back to look at him.  
  
"When did you cut your hair?" She asked. For years now Yamucha had kept his hair in a long   
ponytail, now it was closely cropped, shorter than she'd ever seen it.   
  
"Awhile ago. I needed a change." He told her running a hand through it.  
  
"I know how that feels." He guided her over to the chair again a hand at her back and   
motioned for her to sit.  
  
"Tell your Uncle Yamucha all about it. I saw you pop Trunks one in the kisser out there." He   
said and leaned against the desk arms folded. She bit her lip not sure where to start.  
  
"I heard your folks too. Sounds like everybody has your life pretty well figured out for you   
doesn't it?" He asked quietly when she didn't say anything. She nodded as tears formed in her   
eyes.  
  
"They always have. What I wear, where I went to school, what I would do…now they're   
trying to tell me who to marry."  
  
"What about what you want Marron? Do you want to marry Trunks? Or Goten? What about   
your music?" Yamucha asked.   
  
"I want it to be my choice! I want to make my own decisions whether they are right or wrong! I   
want the right to screw up my own life if I want to. It's been the same since they refused to   
teach me martial arts. They've decided my whole life for me." She said vehemently.  
  
"You let them." Yamucha told her softly. Marron opened her mouth to argue then shut it with a   
snap. He was right. "You have to make your own future Marron. Do what you want to do, be   
who you want to be. Don't let anyone decide for you."  
  
She got up and hugged him again leaning her head on his chest. "I miss talking to you, you   
always know just what to say." She murmured.  
  
He ruffled her hair. "So you never said…do you want to marry Trunks, Goten, or none of the   
above?" Yamucha asked when she let him go. She blushed. "Ah! I see. So which one is the   
lucky guy?" He teased her.  
  
"Trunks." She whispered.  
  
"Does he know then?"  
  
"Know what?" She asked looking away.  
  
"Know that you are still in love with him ten years later?" Yamucha asked. She shook her   
head.  
  
"And you better not tell him either! It's bad enough our parents are always trying to push us   
together. IF something ever happens between us I want it to be because HE wants it, not   
because of everyone else's influence." She said. Yamucha slipped an arm around her shoulder   
as he led her back to the party.  
  
"Fair enough kid."  
  
"So how long are you gonna be around this time?" She asked.  
  
"Thought I might stick around a week or two…you want to go out with your old Uncle   
Yamucha while I'm here? Go shopping?" He asked. She made a face; she'd rather go dancing.  
  
"You really haven't been around much have you? I hate to shop. Bra has kind of killed that joy   
for me." She laughed.  
  
"Ah well. You said you wanted a change so I thought that meant you might want some new   
threads…a new look."   
  
"You buying?" She asked him.  
  
"Of course. I don't have anyone else to spend it on. Might as well spend it on my favorite girl. I   
might take you out to dinner, maybe go to a club too if you want. I did miss your birthday." She   
stopped and put her hands on her hips giving him a look.  
  
"What happened to Monica?" He put his hand behind his head.  
  
"Three girlfriends ago. I'm not seeing anyone now." She rolled her eyes at him.  
  
"You promise you won't run off and ditch me if you meet some woman?" She said leveling a   
finger at him. He looked offended.  
  
"I would never…" He started and she gave him the look again. The look that told him this   
twenty-four year old girl knew him better than anyone besides probably Bulma. "OK. I   
promise."  
  
She beamed at him and held out her hand. "Excellent, then I give you permission to lavish   
attention and gifts upon my person."  
  
Authors Notes: Love it? Hate it? Let me know…either way there is more coming…  
  



	2. Change is good

  
  
  
"Why are we here again?" Trunks yelled at Goten over the loud music. Goten glanced over at him from where he leaned against the bar, beer in hand watching the dance floor.  
  
"What?" He yelled back. Trunks rolled his eyes and grabbed Goten by the shirt and pulled him closer.  
  
"WHY ARE WE HERE?" He shouted point blank in his ear. Goten yelped like a puppy and rubbed the side of his head.  
  
"You don't have to yell so loud!" Goten said leaning closer so they could attempt a conversation. "We're here because you need to get out. Get a date. When was the last time you got lucky anyway?"  
  
"None of your damn business." Trunks snapped back. Goten grinned and took a pull off his beer bottle.  
  
"My point exactly." He yelled.   
  
Trunks drank his beer and stared morosely over the dance floor. He hated places like this. He didn't dance, well not with anything resembling rhythm anyway. You couldn't hold a conversation with anyone and inevitably some woman would recognize him and make a scene. Goten, on the other hand was in his element. But then he could charm the pants off a nun if he put his mind to it. Trunks envied his best friend his easy way with women. His affable nature always won them over. Trunks either said the wrong thing or came off as too intense even when charming. Just look at the spectacular way he'd pissed off Marron the other day. He'd apologized to her profusely when he saw her walking back to the party with Yamucha. He'd even asked her if she'd accompany him to the black tie party he had to attend tomorrow night as a peace offering. He'd been really grateful when she'd said yes, he didn't need to find some bimbo who would be hanging off of him all evening especially when there would be Press, he'd rather go with a friend. Still he'd been strangely pleased when she'd agreed, above and beyond the favor she was doing him.  
  
Goten was suddenly digging his elbow into Trunks ribs hard, almost knocking his beer out of his hand. He looked over at him in annoyance and saw him looking slack jawed at the dance floor.  
  
"Oh Dende! I AM IN LOVE!" He yelled at Trunks. Trunks smirked.  
  
"Yeah, I've met her, name's Paris right?"   
  
"Look at that one right there...the blonde in the light green dress. Is that a goddess or what?" Goten said pointing at a lithe blonde dancing in the throng of bodies. She was consistently either facing away from them or to the side.  
  
"How can you tell? You can't see her face." Trunks pointed out. Goten gave him a long-suffering like-it-matters-with-a-body-like-that-look. Trunks sighed and looked where Goten was pointing.   
  
The lights were pulsing and he couldn't get a great look at her face but from what he glimpsed she was beautiful. She had long blonde hair that hung past the middle of her back, the pale green dress looked as if it had been sewn on her as it hugged every curve. Trunks was becoming mesmerized watching her shapely body move to the music.  
  
"Hypnotic isn't she?" Goten yelled in his ear. Trunks shrugged and looked away taking a swig of his beer while Goten laughed. Goten nudged him again.  
  
"Go dance with her." Trunks shook his head. "If you don't I will." Goten said.  
  
Trunks started to protest so Goten took his nearly empty beer from him and set the bottle on the bar. He then pushed him bodily out to the dance floor with him toward the blonde. He went up to her and tapped her on the shoulder, Trunks vaguely trying to get away. The blonde turned around still dancing.  
  
"Hi Guys! What are you two doing here?" Marron asked them smiling. Both their jaws dropped when they saw that the blonde they had been openly lusting after was their best friend.  
  
"What are WE doing here? What are YOU doing here alone dressed like that!" Goten yelled at her outraged.   
  
"I'm not alone." She said gesturing to the other side of the club. "I'm with Uncle Yamucha." She said. Trunks and Goten looked but didn't see the older man.  
  
"Where?" Trunks yelled over the music. Marron turned and looked toward the table Yamucha had been sitting at but it was empty. She twisted around looking all over the club for him but didn't see him.  
  
"Damnit! I knew he'd ditch me for some woman!" She snapped and walked off the dance floor, Trunks and Goten on her heels. They headed for the quieter front of the club and the claim check area. She produced a claim ticket from somewhere and collected her leather jacket. They left the club and stood on the sidewalk.  
  
"Where on that dress were you keeping that ticket?" Goten asked her. She gave him a big smile.  
  
"Wouldn't you like to know?" She flirted and laughed when Goten wagged his eyebrows at her. Trunks frowned. He didn't like the way Goten was flirting with Marron one bit.  
  
"How are you getting home?" Trunks asked trying to divert her attention from flirting with Goten. "Was Yamucha your ride?" She nodded.  
  
"Yeah, but it's no big deal." She said her hands stuffed in the pockets of the jacket. Trunks was confused.  
  
"How are you going to get all the way back to Kame House then?" He asked.  
  
"I'm not staying at Kame House, Uncle Yamucha's staying in the city for a week or two so since I'm going to that thingy with you tomorrow night I'm staying with him for a few days." She said tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "It's not very far away, I can walk there."  
  
Trunks was looking at Marron in an intense way as if he had never seen her before. And in a way he hadn't...not like this. Goten looked from Trunks to Marron and tried to hide his grin at his friend's obvious interest in her.  
  
"Um, yeah well I have to take off you guys. I forgot I was supposed to meet Paris so I better run and call her." He leaned forward and kissed Marron on the cheek. "See you later Marron. I'll call you tomorrow, Trunks." He said and was gone.  
  
Trunks looked after him and then at Marron who was smiling at him.  
  
"Forgot to meet Paris my butt." She said and laughed. Trunks couldn't help it he started laughing too.  
  
"Yeah that was a pretty obvious set up there wasn't it?" Trunks said.   
  
They stood there awkwardly a moment not saying anything. Trunks couldn't get over how different she looked with her hair down and a light touch of makeup, the pink neon of the club's sign washing her in its rosy glow. He felt tongue tied, like he was on a date instead of standing on the sidewalk with one of his oldest friends. A friend who happened to be the most beautiful girl-strike that-woman he had ever seen.  
  
"-get going." She said. Trunks snapped out of it, realizing he had been staring at her, and blushed slightly.   
  
"I'm sorry what did you say?" He asked glad the colored neon would hide his blush.  
  
"I said it's getting late, I should be going." She repeated. "I'll see you tomorrow night." She said and turned away with a small wave walking up the street. Trunks let her get about a dozen steps away before his brain re-engaged, he was getting as bad as Goten, and hurried after her.  
  
"Marron wait!" He called. "Do you want to go get something to eat or a cup of coffee?" He asked when he caught up to her.  
  
"Not really." She said. Trunks was disappointed, for some reason he didn't want to let her go. "I mean, I'm not hungry and I really don't like coffee." Marron said hurriedly lest he think she didn't want his company.  
  
"Would you like to do something else?" He said with a grin.  
  
***  
  
It was Marron's turn to blush. It had been too long since she had a boyfriend because all she could think of wanting to do was grab his shirtfront and kiss him until his toes curled. But he was just her friend so who knew what he meant by the remark.  
  
"Sure, what?" She asked trying to keep her voice steady. He took two steps closer to her until they were practically touching.  
  
"Trust me?" He asked. She narrowed her eyes, she wasn't sure. The Trunks of her youth would have done something mean to send her off crying while he and Goten laughed. But this was a different Trunks, a heart-stoppingly gorgeous guy who was looking at her like she was a piece of candy. She swallowed.  
  
"I guess..." She said weakly. Before she knew it he had scooped her up in his arms and took off straight up in the air.  
  
Yamucha looked up after them from where he had been waiting in the doorway of the club, smiled and went back inside.  
  
"NO NO NO NONONONO!!" Marron was shrieking as Trunks flew over the city with her. She had her face pressed against his jacket and a death grip around his neck. "Please put me down! I'm afraid of heights!"   
  
Trunks smirked. He kind of liked having her hanging on to him, the soft cornsilk of her hair brushing his cheek, the warmth of her body where it pressed against his. He wanted to just keep flying forever but they were nearly at their destination. He landed on the observation deck of a skyscraper, Marron still clinging to him her eyes screwed shut.  
  
"OK. You can open your eyes now." He said softly in her ear. He set her down and she opened her eyes slowly. They were high above the street and the entire cities twinkling lights met with the stars in a big swirling mass. Marron's head swam with vertigo and she almost fell over if Trunks' strong hands hadn't steadied her. She closed her eyes again hanging onto his arm.  
  
"You all right?" He asked laughter in his voice. Her eyes flew open and met his piercing blue ones. She was wrong...he was still the Trunks who would do something mean to her. She was about to tell him so when he smiled at her warmly and took her hand.  
  
"Come over here with me and look at the lights." He said and tried to lead her toward the edge of the building. She dug her heels in and wouldn't budge.  
  
"Nuh-uh. No way! I told you I'm afraid of heights." She said. He grinned and used his superior strength to pull her along with him. "You are sooo mean!" She declared.  
  
He let go when she was standing next to him at the guard railing at the corner edge of the building. He moved behind her holding the railing on either side of her so she couldn't get away. She gripped the railing with white knuckles and closed her eyes. She couldn't believe she was here, that he was this close to her. She could catch the faintest whiff of his cologne and shivered a little.  
  
"Are you cold?" He said softly in her ear and stepped closer to her wrapping his arms around her and resting his chin on her leather clad shoulder.   
  
Marron's brain was on sensory overload. His closeness, his warmth...she never wanted to move from this spot, ever. He turned his head so his lips were near her ear again.  
  
"Open your eyes and look at the lights Marron. Don't worry...I promise I won't let you fall. You can trust me." He whispered.  
  
Her heart did a flip-flop. Too late! I already feel like I'm falling. She thought as she took a deep breath and opened her eyes.  
  
The City was laid out before her in a riot of lights, lights from buildings, the neon from restaurants and clubs. It was breathtaking like handfuls of colored jewels carefully laid out on a velvet background, above it the empty dome of the sky with its collection of twinkling stars. And for once she was up high and wasn't afraid. She sucked in her breath at the beauty before her and the delight that he wanted to share it with her.  
  
"What do you think?" He whispered in her ear again.  
  
"I've never seen the city like this. It's so beautiful! I never realized it could be until I saw it from this perspective." She said.  
  
Trunks was thinking the same thing but he wasn't looking at the view. He was looking at Marron. When did she stop being that annoying little pest that used to follow us around and turn into this? She's wonderful...how come I never noticed? He wondered. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye nervously.  
  
"Don't you think we should get back? I mean you do have work tomorrow right?" She asked softly. A slight frown crossed his handsome features for a moment before he nodded reluctantly. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her against his side.  
  
"Hang on." He warned and she put her arms around his waist.  
  
"Trunks! Can't we please take the stairs?" She squeaked as he stood on the guardrail of the building.  
  
"Naw, this is way more fun." He told her and dove off the building using his ki to control their descent but it was still thrillingly close to a free fall before he pulled out of it with a whoop startling several patrons of an outdoor cafe. He looked down at her expecting her to have fainted or at the very least have her eyes closed. But he found instead she was laughing eyes bright. He smiled back.  
  
"That was actually fun!" She yelled. They landed near the club they had left and walked the rest of the way to where she was staying. She looked windblown and disheveled, her eyes shining and face flushed. He took her hand as they walked along and he was glad when she gripped his back. When they got to her door she got nervous again.  
  
"This is me...well, Uncle Yamucha's anyway. I should go in. By the way before you go I wanted to thank you for giving me the money to get a dress for tomorrow night...that was very thoughtful of you, not that I don't have dresses I just don't really have any formal wear, since I never go to anything well..formal.. I'm babbling aren't I?" She asked. He smiled and nodded.  
  
"It's OK, usually I like listening to you talk." He told her and came closer until she had her back to the door.  
  
"But not now?" She squeaked as he took her chin in his hand. His face came closer his blue eyes sliding shut as he brushed her lips lightly with his.  
  
"Not now." He whispered and kissed her properly.  
  
***  
  
Yamucha sat in the dark room by the window and waited for Marron. True to his word he hadn't ditched her at the club he had just made himself scarce when Trunks and Goten had shown up. He'd hung around the club for a while after he saw Trunks and Marron fly off then came back to the suite to wait.  
  
He thought about Marron. He hoped she wasn't making a mistake by falling in love with Trunks again. When Trunks had started dating girls his own age it had been Yamucha who gave a heartbroken thirteen-year-old Marron her first guitar to take her mind off of the lavender haired demi-Saiyajin. He remembered the long conversations he had with her when she had first gone off to college and wanted to pursue music even though her parents wanted her to study business. He chuckled; she just wasn't any good at business. But if you gave that girl a guitar or sat her in front of a piano... She had a beautiful throaty singing voice and great range. Yamucha was certain she could be successful if she wanted to. And here she kept sounding as if given the chance she would happily give up her dream of being a musician to be someone's wife.  
  
He wondered what had changed from when she returned home from college. She had done so well away from her parents, away from that life. She'd seemed happy - he'd even seen her play with some bands in the clubs around her college. He knew Marron though; she was a good girl and probably didn't want to upset her parents so she had fallen back into the role of dutiful daughter. She could be so much more if she wanted.  
  
He heard the soft voices of Trunks and Marron outside in the hall as well as a thump against the door and smiled to himself. He gave them a few minutes then went to the door and opened it, catching a startled Marron as she fell backwards into the room, Trunks stumbling forward after her.  
  
"Good evening. Nice night for it." Yamucha said grinning as he set Marron back on her feet. Trunks regained his balance and laughed nervously one hand behind his head, as he looked at the smirking older man.  
  
"Well, I suppose I should be going. Marron, I'll pick you up tomorrow around 7:00. Oyasumi."  
  
Marron pointedly ignored Yamucha and showed Trunks to the door as he waved and was gone. She took her jacket off and flopped onto the couch next to where Yamucha sat with an amused look on his face.  
  
"I take it things went well for you on your little flight then." Yamucha said his eyes twinkling. Marron looked at him a slow smile spreading on her face as she realized what he'd been up to.  
  
"You sly old dog. You didn't ditch me...you hid. You set us up just like Goten did."  
  
"Told you I wouldn't run out on you. You know I always keep my promises to you."   
  
Marron leaned against his arm and put her head on his shoulder. He put his arm on the back of the sofa and Marron curled against him smiling.  
  
"You look like you ate a canary. Spill it." Yamucha said. "What happened?"  
  
"Nothing. He took me flying, we looked at the city lights, and then he kissed me." She said dreamily.  
  
"See? I told you." Yamucha told her playing with a strand of her loose hair. "He would come to you, he just needed to see you in a different light. Change is good."  
  
"Hmmmm...are you right about everything?"  
  
"Of course! When it comes to love and romance I'm the master!" Yamucha told her proudly.  
  
"In a 'do as I say not as I do' capacity, ne? Given your track record." She teased. He reached over and tickled her.  
  
"Why you little...don't be a brat! Go to bed, you have a big day tomorrow. 'Sides you don't want to wake Puar, she'll get crabby." Marron got up and kissed his scarred cheek.  
  
"Thank you Uncle Yamucha."   
  
He watched her go into the other room. He may have his misgivings about her and Trunks but if that's what she wanted he would do whatever he could to help her, because he loved her, and because that's what families do.  



	3. Trunks at work

  
He was going to do it. Really, if his secretary came in one more time and told him something else had been added to his schedule he was going to go Super Saiyajin and blow the wall right out of his office. Maybe then he could finally have a vacation while they repaired it. He was pondering the pros and cons of his idea when Goten showed up. Charming his way past Trunks' secretary.  
  
Trunks held up a hand before Goten could say anything. "I have meetings...there's no way I can sneak out for lunch today as much as I might like to."   
  
"Sure you can. You have to tell me what happened with Marron-chan last night. I've left you messages..." Goten said closing Trunks' office door.  
  
Trunks held them up. "And I've been ignoring them. Too busy today to go and satisfy your sick curiosity...sorry.' Trunks said waving his hand and trying to look busy.   
  
"Wow...you do look busy. Sure you don't have time for lunch." Goten asked leaning against the door. Trunks smiled inwardly, he was going to avoid getting the third degree after all.  
  
"Nope. I don't even have time to run out and get something." Trunks said pleased with his cleverness. Goten grinned wickedly and tossed a brown paper bag at Trunks who caught it reflexively.  
  
"Lucky for me then I brought you lunch." Goten said and sat across from him. Trunks ran his hand through his hair and looked dismayed as Goten opened his bag and took out a sandwich. He grinned at his lavender haired friend and started eating. "Better eat that if you want to have plenty of time to tell me what happened before your meeting."  
  
"That's twice now...what is the world coming to that YOU of all people are getting sneaky? If I didn't know better I'd say you've been spending time around my sister." Trunks grumbled as he fished in the bag Goten brought him.  
  
"Nope. I don't fancy the slow painful death I'd get from your father...or you..." Goten said acknowledging Trunks' pointed look. "...If I went barking up that tree."  
  
"Hmpf." Trunks grunted in agreement and unwrapped the sandwich Goten brought him. He took off the glasses he really didn't need and loosened his tie, digging into his huge sandwich with gusto.  
  
"Soooo...what happened?" Goten asked when he finished his sandwich in three huge bites.  
  
"Nuthin'" Trunks mumbled between bites. Goten snickered.  
  
"Reeeaaallly? Because last night you were looking at her like she was food and you were starving. And you didn't make a move?"  
  
"For Dende's sake Goten! It's none of your business anyway!" Trunks snapped embarrassed. Goten drank his bottle of water in two big gulps and grinned at his best friend again.  
  
"Aha! So you do like her! If you didn't you'd give me details!" The darker haired demi-Saiyajin exclaimed. Trunks balled up the wrappings from his lunch and tossed it at the trashcan...and missed.  
  
"Of course I like her...she's our friend." He pointed out logically. Goten rolled his eyes putting his feet up on the edge of Trunks' desk as his fussy friend scowled at him.  
  
"I mean - LIKE her...you know as in DATE her, eventually fall in LOVE with her, kind of like." Goten said as if explaining to a child.  
  
"I know what you mean baka!" Trunks said irritably. He wasn't sure now how he felt about Marron. She'd been his friend since they were kids but he hadn't seen her in years, now suddenly she shows up back in his life a gorgeous woman. He'd been thinking about her all day, looking forward to seeing her that night. What did it mean? You couldn't base a relationship on one kiss...or could you? He didn't want to hurt Marron. Because of his good looks and money he had gained a reputation as a playboy - dating women a few times then moving on. Truth be told he hadn't found one that had kept his interest. Maybe Marron would be the one...he hoped so.  
  
"Hello? Chikyuu to Trunks...You with me there buddy?" Goten asked and flipped his empty water bottle at Trunks' head. Trunks caught it without looking and flipped it back.   
  
"Yeah...I like her." Trunks finally relented - knowing Goten well enough to know he wouldn't give up until he got an answer out of him.   
  
"What are you going to do about it?" Goten asked fidgeting with the bottle. Trunks scowled at him.  
  
"What do you mean, 'what am I going to do about it'?"  
  
"For one thing she is a friend...so you can't just make her one of your Kleenex babes." Goten pointed out. Trunks frowned harder at the implication he went through women like tissue. "Second, if you do end up hurting her you will have very angry people wanting to do harmful things to you...me included." Trunks raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Really?" He scoffed.  
  
"She's my friend too. And before you get all bent out of shape, all I'm saying is since she's a family friend maybe you should think carefully about whether you want to pursue a relationship with her."  
  
"This is kind of pointless...we haven't even gone out yet." Trunks said leaning back in his chair and folding his arms. Goten tipped his chair back as well keeping his balance by his feet that he had propped on Trunks' desk.  
  
"All the better to think about it now then...since 'nothing' happened last night." Goten said with a grin. Trunks bared his teeth at his friend and stared him down. Goten tipped the chair back forward and got up throwing his water bottle toward the trashcan and making the shot. "I better let you get back to work then. See you tonight?" Goten asked.   
  
"Nyuh." Trunks grunted noncommittally. Goten shook his head.  
  
"Such a stunning conversationalist you are today." He laughed and put his hand on the door. He glanced back at Trunks who seemed already deep in thought his pale brows drawn down. He grinned evilly.  
  
"Is she as sweet as she looks?" He asked the distracted Trunks.  
  
"Sweeter." Trunks said before he realized the trap Goten set for him and blushed as he put his glasses back on trying to look furious. Goten laughed harder as he let himself out of his office.  
  
"You dog!" Trunks heard him call from the reception area as the door swung shut.  
  
***  
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know this is a shorter chapter but it needs to stand alone I think...  



	4. Gifts and Opportunities

  
  
Yamucha glanced down at Marron as they headed back to his apartment. She was checking a list she'd made of things she needed to do before the big soiree that night. Yamucha was along for company and obviously to carry everything as he was currently burdened with packages containing her dress, shoes, gloves and various other items needed for her to transcend from beautiful into the realms of truly gorgeous.   
  
"I think that's all we needed to do...Thanks for coming with me." She said and tucked the list back in the pocket of the tailored black leather jacket he'd bought her. She wore a simple white short top and jeans with it. She seemed oblivious to the attention she was getting from men as they walked down the street but Yamucha noticed. Silly kid had no idea how beautiful she was.  
  
"No problem. We have one more stop to make though." He told her. She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and looked up at him.  
  
"Oh? Where?" He grinned.   
  
"We have to go pick up your birthday present." She frowned and held her jacket open.  
  
"I thought the clothes were my present."   
  
"Nope." He said enigmatically and turned a corner heading to the guitar shop where he had already paid for a new electric guitar. He knew she had wanted one for ages and had finally found the right one. She followed him curiously wondering what the heck he was up to.  
  
She followed him into the store wondering what they could be doing there. Not that she minded she could stand a new set of strings for her acoustic, or some blank sheet music. She browsed around as Yamucha got into a discussion with the owner.  
  
"Marron? Is that you?"   
  
Marron turned toward the owner of the voice as he walked toward her from where he had been stringing a guitar in the back. She smiled as she saw Shiro approach her with arms wide. He had been her last serious boyfriend while she was in college; they had lived and played in a band together and written many songs together as well. They had broken up when things had gotten a little too complicated but had remained friends despite the fact she hadn't seen him in nearly a year. He looked just as handsome as ever with his deep brown eyes, shaggy black hair and aquiline features.  
  
"Shiro! Hey!" She said as the tall young man hugged her in greeting. "What are you doing here?"   
  
"I work here part time now. Got a new band together...you should come and play with us." He said. Her face lit up just like he knew it would at the prospect of playing. It had to be a sign that just when their lead guitarist had quit the band he would run into Marron. "In fact...we have some gigs lined up for this weekend and next if you're interested." He said.  
  
"Maybe. I have plans tonight though..." She trailed off looking for Yamucha. He waved her over from where he was at the counter. She wandered over, Shiro following.  
  
"Uncle Yamucha, this is my friend Shiro Miyazaki. We went to college together." She said by way of introduction. Shiro smiled and shook Yamucha's hand as he winked at Marron.  
  
"We did more than that..."   
  
Marron elbowed him in the ribs. Yamucha remembered the young man from when he'd seen Marron play in the clubs and recognized the name as her ex-boyfriend. The owner of the store came out from the back with the guitar case and set it on the counter, Yamucha opened it.  
  
"What's this then?" Marron asked. Yamucha beamed at her.  
  
"Your gift." He said to her. Marron looked in the case at a gorgeous electric Les Paul special guitar. Her mouth dropped open as Shiro crowded up against her to see it, not even remembering they weren't going out anymore as he leaned over her shoulder hands on her waist.  
  
"Sweet! I wondered who bought this guitar! It's really nice!" He said excitedly. Marron looked at Yamucha.  
  
"I can't take this! It's too much..." She said even as her hand was drawn to touch it.  
  
"You can and you will. You need it, this is what you should be doing with your life Marron - playing and writing music...tell me I'm wrong." Marron frowned thinking of her parents who always looked at music as a hobby - never a career. She thought of Trunks...what would he say if he knew?   
  
Shiro patted her on the back. "Why don't you try it out?" He said and plugged in an amplifier. Marron was still dazed and lost in thought, she had enjoyed the life of a musician so much when she was in college and felt stifled when she had come home to live always having to hide her passion. And here was Uncle Yamucha encouraging her to follow her dream of being a musician, but she also had a chance possibly at another dream, of being with Trunks...could she have both?  
  
Shiro held out the guitar to her and she looked at him numbly. The guitar was so beautiful her hands itched to play it. A slow smile spread on her face and she shrugged out of her jacket and strapped the guitar on. She took the pick from Shiro, her fingers brushing his. After warming up a few minutes she had to admit...she loved it.   
  
"Play us something." Yamucha said. Marron cocked her head and looked at Shiro who was already one step ahead and had gotten his acoustic to join her. She smiled - that was one thing about Shiro...they might not have been great as a couple but musically they were always perfectly in sync.   
  
They played a song they had written together and as Yamucha watched them he had to admit even for an impromptu session in the middle of the music store the two of them played really well together. Marron had a strong voice and didn't even need a microphone but as good as her voice was when Shiro harmonized with her on the chorus it sounded even better. They finished and were startled by the round of applause they got from people on the street that had crowded around the store when they heard them play. Marron blushed slightly and waved. She took the guitar off as people disbursed and Shiro bounded up to her his guitar still hanging on his back.  
  
"You have to play with us! You'll really like the new band...please Marron...what do you say?" Shiro pleaded with his puppy eyes. Marron looked down at the guitar and up at Yamucha who seemed smug that his point about her future had been made.  
  
"I don't see how I could say no." Marron said about more things then one as Shiro hugged her and Yamucha smiled.  



	5. Party Preparations

  
By six thirty Marron was ready...at least by her standards. She came out of the extra bedroom and modeled for Yamucha and Puar.  
  
"What do you think?" She asked them. Yamucha gave her a good looking over since he had in essence picked the outfit for her. Marron had no idea he knew so much about women and what looked good on them but then she remembered with the number of girlfriends he'd had in his life. It would be more surprising if he didn't know.  
  
The dress he'd chosen for her, courtesy of Trunks' generous donation, was a simple black strapless floor length gown that laced up the back of the bodice like a corset. The skirt hugged and gathered slightly around her hips and was fuller at the bottom. She wore black opera length gloves and low heels that were a compromise with Yamucha when she'd wanted to wear flats and he insisted the dress needed stilettos.   
  
Yamucha shook his head. "You're gorgeous from the neck down." He said and Marron stuck her tongue out at him. She had just left her hair loose and wore little makeup and no jewelry. Yamucha got up and steered her back into the bathroom.  
  
"Didn't your mother teach you anything about dressing up?" He grumbled at her. "Puar! Curlers!" He barked over his shoulder. Puar floated in a moment later with the hot rollers as Yamucha was reapplying more dramatic makeup to a giggling Marron.  
  
"Stop fidgeting!" Yamucha snapped at her as he darkened her eyeliner and Puar put her hair up in rollers.  
  
"I can't help it...I never ever thought I would end up having you do my makeup and hair, Uncle Yamucha." She said still giggling.   
  
"Yeah well just don't think this means we're going to stay up late and eat ice cream and talk about boys." He said crossly but had a twinkle in his eye and winked. "At least not tonight." He did a few more adjustments with small brushes and applied a deep rose colored lipstick to her lips before handing her a tissue. "Blot...how's it going Puar?"  
  
"Almost done Yamucha." Puar said rolling up the last of Marron's hair. Yamucha studied her Puar hovering at his side.  
  
"Up or down? Which do you think Puar?" He said indicating her hair. Puar rubbed her chin and floated closer to Marron.  
  
"Up." Puar gave her opinion.  
  
Yamucha checked his watch and started pulling the rollers out of Marron's hair so it fell in long spirals and waves. He pulled it up into a mass of golden curls on the back of her head leaving a few long ones down to frame her face and neck. Yamucha held Marron's chin in his hand and turned her head from side to side.  
  
"Good call Puar...what else?" He asked as Marron grinned. Puar was already floating back with a black velvet ribbon that she tied around Marron's slender neck like a choker.  
  
"I feel like Cinderella..." Marron joked as Puar tied the ribbon. Yamucha snorted and pulled her to her feet turning her toward the mirror.  
  
"Cinderella never looked half this good." He said and started retying the bodice portion of the dress so it was even tighter causing her cleavage to swell above the neckline. Marron was impressed...she didn't have much up front but the dress sure made it look like she did.  
  
She looked in the mirror and barely recognized herself ...she looked...  
  
"Stunning." Puar said as if she were thinking along similar lines. Yamucha admired his handiwork with a small smile.  
  
"And we still have eight minutes left." He said consulting his watch. "Damn we're good Puar." Yamucha practically swaggered out of the bathroom. Puar started to follow but Marron's hand on her tail stopped her.  
  
"Puar...I have to know...where did he learn all this?" She asked. Puar looked over her shoulder to make sure Yamucha was out of earshot.  
  
"Girlfriends 28 through 33 were all models." Puar whispered conspiratorially.  
  
"Ah." Marron said and followed Puar out. Yamucha stood on the balcony.  
  
"C'mere a second kid." He called to her. She joined him and they leaned on the railing watching the street. They saw a black limo making it's way up the busy street to their building. Marron's heart kicked into over time...Trunks was here.  
  
"Don't do anything you'll regret later Marron." Yamucha said softly as he watched the big black hover car stop. Marron tore her eyes away from the lavender head she saw climb out of the back of the car to look at him.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
Yamucha put his hands on her shoulders so she faced him. "I just mean..." He started and looked into her deep blue eyes and her gorgeous face and knew Trunks was going to be a goner at first sight. He just hoped Marron wouldn't fall so hard for him again that she lost sight of her goals. But who was he to tell her how to live her life...her parents had done enough of that.  
  
"...Have a good time." He finished, and the smile she gave him was brilliant. He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead as Trunks knocked on the door. Yamucha watched her fondly as she went to answer it. He should have gotten married...he should have had kids. He wouldn't regret the decisions of his life but it would have been nice to be a father...he would have loved to have a daughter like Marron. She was the closest he'd probably ever come to it.  
  
Puar beat her to the door and invited Trunks in. Marron caught her breath at the sight of him. She had never seen Trunks in a tuxedo before. The cut of the collarless black jacket flattered his muscular frame and the white band of his shirt collar contrasted nicely against his tanned skin. He looked like he had just stepped out of a magazine, most male models would give their eye teeth to look even half as good as Capsule Corp.'s president.   
  
His eyes met hers and the look he gave her had her blushing. She wondered how many women had fallen instantly in love with Trunks Briefs after falling under that intense gaze. She could guess probably all of them who had.  
  
"I'm ready." She said to break the moment. He snapped out of it as well and smiled offering her his arm. Puar handed her wrap and purse to her as they said their goodbyes and left. Puar looked at Yamucha who still stood on the balcony watching the street. She drifted out and stood on the railing next to him. They watched Marron and Trunks appear and get in the car, Marron waved at Yamucha and he lifted a hand in return.  
  
"They look really good together don't they?" Puar asked. Yamucha grunted noncommittally.  
  
"Come on Puar...we're going out for the night." He said suddenly.   
  
"Shouldn't I stay here...Marron doesn't have a key." She asked him. Yamucha put on his coat and chuckled at his shape-shifting companion.  
  
"Puar...you saw the way he looked at her. Do you really think she's coming home tonight?"  



	6. Trunks screws the pooch...or Mr. Briefs ...

  
Trunks couldn't get over how great she looked. She sat across from him in the dark limo and looked out the window at the city offering him her profile as the passing lights illuminated her. He wanted to reach out and twine one of the long curls that fell against her neck around his finger to feel the silken texture. In the dim light of the limo her pale skin and hair held a luminance against the black of her dress and the leather of the seats. He heard a rustle of silk as she fidgeted. He raised his eyes to hers and saw she was blushing. He realized he had been staring at her and felt heat rise to his face as well.  
  
"You look really beautiful Marron." He said softly. She smiled warmly at him.  
  
"So do you." This time he looked away first. This was Marron for Dende's sake...what was he thinking that he wanted to pull her into his arms and forget all about going to the party.   
  
"Thank you, by the way for coming with me to this thing." He said changing the subject.   
  
"I don't mind...although I am surprised you asked ME."   
  
"Why?" He asked puzzled.  
  
"Isn't there always a lot of press at these things? I mean...I always see your picture in the paper with all these beautiful women and they always speculate if 'this will be the woman who nabs the most eligible bachelor!'" She said with a small laugh. Trunks made a face.  
  
"I'll just say you're a family friend." He said chagrined.  
  
"Of course." She said still smiling at him. Something she said before just clicked in and he gave her a slow smile.  
  
"So...you look for my picture in the paper do you?"   
  
She blushed. "I used to...when I was away at college. Used to drive my bo-roommate crazy. It was just a way of feeling like I hadn't lost touch with you I guess."  
  
"But you don't anymore." Trunks stated. Marron looked up at him shyly.  
  
"Why look at a picture of you when you're right here..." She said softly. He was leaning forward intending on kissing her when they arrived. He ran his hand through his hair and gave her a smile.  
  
"The only bad part is from here to the door. They'll take your picture about a thousand times and yell questions at you. Just relax and smile, act like you do this everyday." He said comfortingly. Marron looked out at the throng of journalists and people hoping to glimpse celebrities that lined the path into the pavilion. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves.  
  
"I'm starting to think...you owe me for this." Marron said as the driver came to open the door.   
  
"I'll make it up to you later."   
  
Trunks got out and grinned at her roguishly as he took her hand to help her out of the car. As she stood it seemed as if a thousand suns went nova in her vision as flashbulbs blinded her. She kept a smile on her face and thought of performing. It's just like being on stage...only with out a guitar, she thought. Definitely...he owes me big time.  
  
Trunks led her to the building with the same haughty half smile he always wore on his face. They were stopped almost halfway to the doors by an obnoxious reporter with a moustache that looked like a caterpillar had crawled on his lip and died; he thrust a microphone in Trunks' face and asked him the question everyone there wanted to know.  
  
"So Mr. Briefs...who is this lovely young lady with you?" He asked his sharp little eyes bright. Marron took another calming breath and repeated her mantra in her head...family friend...family friend...so she would remember if anyone asked her. She tensed waiting to hear what Trunks would say and follow his lead.  
  
Trunks cringed when he saw the weasel reporter move to stop them. He hated it when they asked him about his personal life...like it was anyone else's business but his own, but he understood that as the president of Capsule Corp. he was a public figure of sorts. He had been holding Marron's gloved hand as they walked past the photographers and he had to admit she was one cool number. She looked like she had been born in the spotlight. As they stopped for the reporter he slid his arm around her slim waist without even realizing he was doing it. He heard Goten's voice in his mind again, like he had all afternoon:  
  
_So you do like her...what are you going to do about it? Think carefully about whether you want to pursue a relationship with her..._  
  
Did he? Is that why he was so glad to see her? Why he was glad she was here with him, because he wanted to be with her? He heard the reporter ask who she was. He glanced at Marron out of the corner of his eye, she had a serene expression on her face but he could see her lips barely moving and her body tensed almost imperceptibly under his hand. He opened his mouth to introduce her as a friend of the family but something very different came out.  
  
"This is my girlfriend Marron."  
  
He almost slapped his own forehead for saying out loud it but kept his cool as the reporter just about passed a peach pit in excitement over the scoop. They had only had one kiss...well two if you counted ten years ago, and now he just jumped the gun, in PUBLIC without even asking her...where had his brain gone? Marron kept smiling like he had just said the sky was blue and he excused them before the reporter could ask anything else and propelled her the rest of the way to the doors.  
  
***  
  
Marron was stunned. He had just told for all intents and purposes the country that she was his girlfriend. So nice of him to ask...she thought. Had he meant it? She was going to ask but as soon as they went inside but Goten and his model girlfriend Paris were there waiting for them. She barely heard Goten as he complimented her on how she looked. Goten also looked very nice in a tuxedo and Marron told him so, missing Trunks' faint frown.   
  
Paris took her arm and led her off to meet some fellow model friends of hers leaving Trunks and Goten alone to find a table at a row of booths along the far wall. On the way at least five people stopped Trunks and asked about his new girlfriend...news spread fast.  
  
"WHAT in the HFIL is going on?" Goten finally asked when they sat down. Trunks ignored him and ordered a drink, a strong one. When it came he swallowed half of it in one gulp with a grimace. Goten raised an eyebrow. "That bad huh?"  
  
"Oh yeeaaahhh..." Trunks drawled as he felt the alcohol warm it's way from his throat to his stomach. "I really screwed up this time."  
  
"What did you do?"  
  
Trunks put an arm up on the back of the booth and looked around the room trying to find Marron. He didn't see her or Paris among the people milling around. He finally turned to Goten who was watching him patiently dark eyes laughing.  
  
"I introduced Marron as my girlfriend to the press outside." He muttered hoping Goten wouldn't hear it. Unfortunately his best friend did, and he threw his head back and laughed causing several people at nearby tables to turn and look at them. Trunks just smiled grimly back.  
  
"Not funny baka." Trunks said under his breath. Goten trailed off and wiped his eyes as if Trunks had told the funniest joke.  
  
"Sure it is. I'm assuming of course you didn't ask her or make your intentions known."   
  
Trunks shook his head. "I seem to have neglected that part."   
  
Goten snickered enjoying Trunks' chagrin immensely. "What did Marron do? Last time you screwed up she slapped your face."  
  
"She didn't even bat an eyelash. Which is somehow scarier." Trunks said.  
  
He finally saw Marron across the room talking with Paris and a group of young models and actresses. He was surprised Goten wasn't over there in the middle of it by now. He looked back at his friend and found him grinning at him seeing where he was looking.  
  
"I hope you realize the personal sacrifice I'm making to sit here with your sorry self." Goten teased. "When there is that much beauty to be enjoyed over there."  
  
"You're a true pal...really." He quipped back sarcastically, Goten's attempt to cheer him not working.  
  
"Just don't you forget it...now do you want Marron as a girlfriend or was this truly a full-fledged fuck up?" Goten asked. "You weren't exactly forthcoming today at lunch."  
  
"I don't know...and even if I did it's still none of your business baka." Trunks snapped grumpily. Goten leaned forward over the table his face intense.  
  
"Well you better figure it out baka, because you just made it everybody's business. You know they're going to be crawling all over her with a microscope...asking her questions that I'll just bet she has no idea how to answer now. And here you are over here with me feeling sorry for yourself because you screwed up when you should be over there with her explaining yourself."   
  
Goten got up from the booth giving Trunks a look that was both reproachful and pitying at the same time. "You really have a lot to learn about women Trunks." He told him and went to join his girlfriend.  
  
***  
  
"How did you ever land Trunks Briefs? I went out with him once and he never even called me back!" Some actress whose name escaped her asked Marron.  
  
"That's right! My old roommate went out with him for a month and he never referred to her as his girlfriend. What's your secret?" Another asked.   
  
Marron just smiled enigmatically schooling her face in a pleasant expression that would make her Jinzouningen mother proud as the young women crowded around her wanting to know the details of she and Trunks' relationship. Like we even have one, she thought. Paris looked at her with a slightly confused expression not getting what was going on.  
  
Marron was saved however when they started playing music and lit up the dance floor. Paris clapped her hands.  
  
"Oh goody! Come on Marron...let's go dance!" She chirped and grabbed Marron's hand pulling her along after her. Marron gave a shrug and a weak wave at the curious young women. They were almost to the dance floor when Goten showed up.  
  
"And where are you two gorgeous ladies off to?" He said putting an arm around each of them.  
  
"We're going to go dance." Paris pointed out patiently. Goten smiled indulgently, he'd meant the remark rhetorically since they were nearly on the dance floor.  
  
"Mind if I join you?" He said. Paris shrugged and smiled.  
  
"Sure!" She chirped. Marron slipped out from under Goten's arm.   
  
"Now that you're here I think I'll go find Trunks." She said and started away. Goten grabbed her wrist gently.  
  
"I wouldn't just yet...stay here and dance with us. Let him find you." He told her. Marron looked into his dark eyes that reflected the colored lights. His expression was hard, not the usual light-hearted Goten she knew. She really wanted to talk to Trunks but she trusted Goten's judgment.  
  
"All right." She said quietly and joined them.  
  
Trunks brooded in the booth alone for two songs as he watched Marron dance with Goten and Paris. He hated to admit it but Goten was right...he had better make up his mind about what he wanted to do...the luxury of seeing what might develop had just been taken from him. Or more accurately he had taken it from himself, he thought as he finished his drink in one burning gulp.   
  
He smiled as he watched her laugh at something Goten said as the three of them bounced to the music. Maybe it was the alcohol but he was starting to feel more relaxed. He got up from the table intending to join them. He frowned when his head swam a bit when he was vertical. He made it over to them as the current song ended and a slow one began. Good timing, he thought to himself, the touch of a smile gracing the corners of his mouth. Slow dancing he could do...he didn't need rhythm for that.  
  
As the music changed to a slower beat Goten turned away from Marron to take Paris in his arms and dance with her. Marron smiled, they looked so sweet together - too bad Paris was such a ditz. But then Goten really wasn't exactly a poster child for Mensa either. She turned around to leave and was caught up in Trunks' arms as he held her to dance.  
  
"Oh! Hello there..." She said surprised. He smiled a little sloppily and put his cheek against her temple as he swayed to the music with her. He was acting really bizarre...first he was staring at her like she had a third eye, and then he tells everyone she's his girlfriend, then he sits with Goten and doesn't say a word and now he's all over her again. She wished he'd make up his mind. She sniffed and could smell a touch of alcohol over the mellow spice of his cologne.  
  
"Had a little liquid courage did we?" She asked lightly. He tightened the arm around her waist pulling her even closer to him. She hissed in her breath as her own head swam from his closeness.  
  
"Hmmmmm. I feel really neat." He said near her ear. She frowned.  
  
"Are you drunk? How many did you have?" She asked him as he leaned on her a bit.  
  
"Just the one." He murmured and slid the hand around her waist up to rub her back.  
  
"You don't act like you've had just one...have you eaten? She asked pulling back so she could see his face. He had a light stain of crimson over his cheeks and the bridge of his nose as he gave her a lopsided smile.  
  
"Not recently." He confessed. Marron immediately knew there would be problems when alcohol hit an empty Saiyajin stomach. He needed food right away or he'd get sick. She half supported him as he leaned on her in the premise of dancing. She steered them over to Goten and tugged on his sleeve.  
  
"Help!" She said when he turned around. He took one look at Trunks and shook his head.  
  
"And he calls me a baka all the time."  
  
"He needs food...I think the alcohol is reacting badly with his system." Marron said quietly.  
  
"No kidding...he usually holds his alcohol better than this. He just had one." Goten said in an equally low voice.  
  
"Why is ever body whisperin'?" Trunks slurred a bit loudly. Goten looked around quickly. No one had noticed the very tipsy Capsule Corp. President yet.   
  
"All right...take him out the back quick. I'll go out front and get a cab to come around for you. Take him to his apartment and feed him - if you take him home Bulma will come unglued."  
  
"I don't know where his apartment is." Marron said.  
  
"I do!" Trunks offered helpfully. Goten rolled his eyes at him.  
  
"I'll tell the cab driver. Now you better go before he starts singing."  
  
"You want me to sing?" Trunks asked fuzzily.  
  
"What about my purse?" Marron asked Goten as he started herding them toward the back door.  
  
"Is there anything in it you need?" He asked as Trunks started humming softly...a precursor to breaking out into song.  
  
"I guess not...my money was in there though." Goten reached in his pocket and handed her a wad of bills.   
  
"I'll drop your purse off to you tomorrow." He said.  
  
"Thanks Goten." She called over her shoulder as she led Trunks out the back door.  
  



	7. Putting Trunks to bed

  
She managed to wrestle him into the cab unseen and they headed off for Trunks' apartment. He leaned his head on her shoulder and wrapped his arms around her waist. He got awfully cuddly when he was drunk. The cabby kept looking at them in the rearview mirror as if he recognized them, or at least Trunks. Marron met his gaze steadily daring him to say something.  
  
"S'Hot..." Trunks mumbled against her neck. She tipped his head back so she could get at his collar. She unbuttoned the top two buttons of his tuxedo shirt putting the collar studs in his jacket pocket. He caught her hand and brought it to his mouth kissing her palm. Marron extracted her hand gently as he gazed at her with half lidded eyes. As much as she wanted attention from him she didn't want to take advantage of him in this condition. It wouldn't be right...even if he was being awfully cute.  
  
They got to Trunks' building and he leaned heavily on her again as she paid the amused cabby. She helped him into the building and looked at the directory...just her luck he wasn't listed.  
  
"Trunks! What floor?" She asked shaking him gently as they waited for the elevator.  
  
"Top...I'm on top." He said and nuzzled her ear.   
  
"Do you have a key?" She asked when she got him on the elevator and saw the top floors were only accessible by key.  
  
"Mmmhmmm."   
  
She sighed and leaned him against the back wall of the elevator and fished through his pants pockets, taking a little longer than she needed to probably. Turn about is fair play, she justified to herself. She extracted the key and was unlocking the floor on the control panel when Trunks wrapped his arms around her from behind knocking her off balance.  
  
"You're so sweet Maro-chan." He breathed in her ear, using the nickname he and Goten had called her as a child. She pushed him back so he leaned against the back wall again, flattening a hand against his chest to keep him there as she worked the elevator controls with the other.  
  
The doors opened and Marron helped him off into the spacious open apartment. It was immaculately decorated with clean modern yet comfortable furniture and from what she could see three of the four walls were glass offering a gorgeous view of the city. Later, I'll be impressed later, she thought as she wrangled him into his bedroom. She stood him there and helped him off with his jacket, setting it aside to be hung before she took off her long gloves. He tried to take her in his arms again but she held him off with a hand on his chest.  
  
"Get undressed...I'm going to go make you something to eat okay?" She told him as if he was a child. He grinned again.  
  
"Wouldn't you rather undress me Maro-chan?" He asked seductively and even though he was drunk her stomach still did flip-flops.  
  
"Some other time maybe...now put some sleeping clothes on." She ordered and left before he could do anything else adorable. Marron found his bathroom and got a couple of aspirins before heading into the kitchen. She started a pot of rice for him and got some water out of the refrigerator.  
  
She went back in his bedroom to find him sprawled out on his bed in his silk- she noticed- boxers and socks. He was so gorgeous and really had a truly beautiful body. She sighed after sneaking a good peek at his sculpted torso and went to his dresser taking out two white t-shirts and a pair of sweatpants. She dug further and found a pair of old gym shorts as well. She set the shorts and the extra t-shirt aside for herself, she had a feeling she was stuck here for the night. She shook Trunks' shoulder and he sat up groggily.  
  
"You're back." He said and grinned. She handed him the t-shirt.  
  
"Put this on so you can come eat." She said. At his perplexed look (he thought if he was seducing her clothes were supposed to come off) she helped him into the t-shirt and sweats as if he were a little kid. She led him out to the kitchen the silk of her skirt rustling softly as it brushed the wood floors. She gave him the aspirins and made him drink the entire bottle of water.   
  
She crouched in front of him resting her hands on his knees so she could look into his face as he sat slumped at the kitchen table.  
  
"Trunks...do you mind if I stay on your couch tonight?" She asked him. He leaned forward and put his forehead against hers his soft lavender bangs brushing her skin.  
  
"You don' hafta...you can sleep in my bed with me." He mumbled. She couldn't resist, she tipped her face up and kissed his nose lightly.  
  
"The couch is fine...I'm going to borrow something to change into as well if you don't mind." She said and stood up. He grunted something unintelligible and put his head down on the table. She checked the rice and found she still had a few more minutes so she went back to the bedroom and changed into the tee and shorts quickly, before ducking into the bathroom and washing the makeup off her face. The rice pot dinged and she padded back out to the kitchen.   
  
She filled two big bowls with rice since she was hungry too, not having had dinner at the party...after all they had been there only an hour. Trunks was asleep face down on the table. She debated letting him but knew he'd better eat or he'd be up in a few hours being sick in the bathroom.  
  
"Trunks...you need to eat." She said gently shaking him by the shoulder again. He sat up and she put the bowl in front of him and placed the chopsticks in his hand. He blinked at the rice a second and dug in. Marron started some tea and leaned against the kitchen counter eating her own rice and watching him. The tea was done the same time he was and she gave him some.  
  
"I don't want tea." He said petulantly.   
  
"Drink it. Trust me you don't want to get dehydrated." She told him in a tone that brooked no arguments. He scowled fiercely at the cup but drank it. He looked around after finishing the tea.  
  
"Is there more?" He asked. Marron refilled both his cup and bowl with tea and rice respectively and he downed his seconds in record time. He seemed a little less woozy after eating so Marron helped him to his bedroom and sat him on his bed before making sure the pathway to his bathroom was clear. She placed a towel over his pillow just in case he needed it and tucked him into bed.  
  
"Maro-chan...why is my room spinning?" He asked her. She sat next to him and brushed his hair out of his eyes with a smile, he owed her so big for this. He caught her hand and looked at her seriously. "About what I said..."  
  
"Shush now Trunks...go to sleep. We'll talk about it later." She said gently. He nodded and closed his eyes rolling on his side toward her. She rubbed his back soothingly a few minutes until his breathing evened out then leaned over and gave him a soft kiss on the corner of his mouth.   
  
"I love you Trunks..." She whispered their noses nearly touching. His blue eyes flicked open a moment meeting hers before he shut them again.  
  
***  
  
Piercing drilling noise filled his ears and dragged him from sleep. He cracked his eyes and was instantly sorry as the bright late morning sun stabbed into his eyes, blinding him and making his head pound. The noise continued and he recognized it as the intercom buzzer...and someone was really leaning on it too. With a groan he pulled his pillow over his head and rolled over hoping whoever it was would get the hint and just let him die in peace.  
  
Eventually the noise mercifully ceased and Trunks was about to slide back into blessed oblivion when his pillow was suddenly snatched from his head letting the villainous sun renew its assault on his tender eyes.  
  
"Good morning Starshine!" Goten said cheerfully and far too loudly for Trunks' sensitive ears. He snarled at him and pulled the other pillow over his head. Goten took that one too laughing at Trunks' pained expression.  
  
"How did you get in here? What time is it?" Trunks grumbled when he accepted that there was no way Goten was going to let him go back to sleep.  
  
"You left the balcony door unlocked again and its almost noon." Goten told him. "Get up and come to lunch with me."   
  
Trunks got up and padded half conscious into the bathroom for a shower. He stood under the spray and let the hot water wash the remnants of sleep and whatever evil had befallen him the night before away. He frowned as he washed his hair...what had happened last night? He remembered telling the reporter Marron was his girlfriend and talking to Goten but after that he only had impressions of soft hands, the rustle of silk, and a soothing voice.   
  
He toweled off and got dressed still trying to figure out what had gone on...had he slept with her? He noticed his tuxedo was neatly hung up...but he didn't remember getting undressed.  
  
_Get undressed...I'm going to go make you something to eat...  
  
Wouldn't you rather undress me Maro-chan?_  
  
He frowned. HAD he slept with Marron? And if he did why was he wearing sweats and a t-shirt when he woke up...not to mention alone? He saw the tail end of something black on the floor and pulled out a black velvet ribbon from under the bed. Confused he wandered out to his kitchen where Goten was waiting for him reading the paper.  
  
"Feeling better? There's coffee..." Goten said looking at him over the top of the paper. Trunks looked at him as if he had grown a second head.  
  
"You made me coffee?" He asked. Goten could barely boil water. The dark haired demi-Saiyajin shook his head.  
  
"Nope. Coffee was already made." Goten said as he folded the paper to a certain page. He set it down on top of a small black object that was on the table in front of him. Trunks got a cup of coffee and sat down across from Goten who was watching him with an amused expression.  
  
"Coffee...how bizarre." Trunks muttered mostly to himself as he drank it. It was strong how he liked it and good. Goten put his chin in his hand.  
  
"Still have NO idea what happened last night do you?" He asked him grinning. Trunks scowled faintly as he drank trying to remember everything but he was still sketchy on the details after he got home.  
  
Goten placed the folded paper in front of him opened to the entertainment gossip section. Trunks looked at his own face smirking back up at him from the photograph his arm around the waist of a beautiful smiling Marron. The caption was a blurb that this was the girlfriend of Capsule Corp.'s president. Trunks nodded.  
  
"I remember that." He said. Goten silently turned the folded paper over to the other photograph that showed him with Marron, his cheek pressed to her temple and a small self satisfied smile pasted on his lips, his arms holding her tight against him.  
  
"I don't remember that." He said.  
  
"That was after you got the bright idea to have a big drink on an empty stomach. Luckily disaster was averted...Marron brought you home. So your reputation is saved."  
  
He looked around the kitchen and noticed two bowls and teacups washed and sitting in the dish drainer. He was remembering that she made him food. He looked at the table and saw the small black object in front of Goten.  
  
"What's that?" He asked.   
  
"Marron's purse. I told her I'd bring it to her today."  
  
"Here? Why?" Trunks' head was spinning - what the hairy heck did happen last night?  
  
Goten finally couldn't stand it any longer and pushed a folded piece of paper in front of Trunks. "This was on the table...she left you a note."  
  
"Why didn't you say that in the first place baka?" Trunks snapped as he unfolded it.  
  
"I like making you suffer...gives you humility." Goten told him mildly watching him read the note.  
  
Trunks,  
  
Thank you for a very _ interesting_ evening last night and for letting me stay on your couch. Sorry I couldn't wait around for you to wake up so we could talk but I had to go. I will return the clothes I borrowed later.   
Hope you are feeling better - drink lots of water! Call me when you have a chance. And in case you can't remember...nothing happened.   
  
Marron   
  
  
Trunks handed the note to Goten for him to read. Goten smiled at him as he put the note on the table.  
  
"You don't deserve her." He told his best friend. Trunks just drank his coffee and glared at him. Goten got up.  
  
"Coming to lunch with me?" He asked. Trunks shook his head.  
  
"Not hungry." He said absently. Goten walked to the balcony door.  
  
"I'll see you later then. Want to go out with Paris and I tonight?"   
  
"Maybe...call me later." Trunks said still in thought. Goten snickered and left, purposefully leaving Marron's purse on Trunks' kitchen table. Trunks saw it when it was too late to call Goten back. He smirked.  
  
"So sneaky..."  



	8. About last night...

It was late evening before Marron finally made it back to Yamucha's apartment for the night. She set her guitar case down and threw herself on the couch next to him.  
  
"Twelve hours of rehearsing...and then a two hour show. Shiro never used to be this much of a slave driver when we went out. We sounded pretty tight though..." She said to Yamucha's raised eyebrow. She had shown up this morning in shorts and a t-shirt that were way to big for her and with barely a word of greeting or explanation showered and left with her guitar to meet the band and rehearse before their gig.  
  
"I'm soooo hungry! I haven't eaten all day." She whined half sitting and half lying on the couch and Yamucha.  
  
"So eat something." Yamucha told her patiently. She shook her head.  
  
"Too weak...can't move..." She joked. Yamucha leaned over her and grinned.  
  
"I know what'll get you moving...Trunks called." She perked up smiling.  
  
"Really?" She said and grabbed the message from Yamucha's fingers. "Where did you tell him I was?" She asked as she picked up the phone and dialed.  
  
"Working." She shrugged and nodded. Close enough to the truth. She went in the other room for some privacy as the phone rang and rang.  
  
"Moshi Moshi?" Trunks said finally picking up.  
  
"Hey there! You called?" Marron said.  
  
"Marron - I was starting to wonder what happened to you." He said flatly.  
  
"I just got home and Yamucha said you called. I'm surprised you answered...I figured I'd have to leave a message."  
  
He chuckled. "Nope...I'm here. Doing paperwork and listening to music. Where were you all day? I called because I have your purse...Goten dropped it off here."   
  
She was kind of disappointed, is that all he called for?  
  
"Oh. Thanks for telling me. I have to return your clothes too. Let me know when a good time for you is." She said a little stiffly.  
  
"Anytime. If you need it right away I'll probably be up working late." He said.  
  
"I suppose I could come and get it tonight. I haven't eaten yet though so it may be awhile." She told him.  
  
"Why don't you just come over now? I'll make us something to eat. It's the least I can do to return the favor."   
  
Marron bit her lip...She really wanted to see him but at the same time she was unsure.  
  
"Besides...I think we need to talk Marron...about last night." He said continuing. Marron's chest fell at the way he said it, did he remember her telling him she loved him?  
  
"All right. I'll be there soon." She said and hung up before he could say anything else.  
  
She walked back out into the living room still chewing on her lip. Yamucha looked up from the book he was reading having heard her side of the conversation.  
  
"Going out?" He asked. She nodded absently. "Go change your shirt and brush your hair." He offered. Her eyes narrowed.  
  
"Why? It's not like it will do any good! I just don't know what in the HFIL he wants from me! First he's all over me then he's distant..." She said. Yamucha patted the seat next to him and she flopped down.   
  
"I think the problem is that he doesn't know what he wants either, kid. Especially now that you and he are big news."  
  
"What are you talking about?" She said twisting to look at him. Yamucha leaned over and showed her the same article in the paper Goten had shown Trunks earlier.  
  
"Aaaa...no wonder he wants to talk to me..." She said softly and got up to collect the clothes she needed to return.   
  
"You going to change?" Yamucha asked as she put on her leather jacket over the gray babydoll t-shirt and jeans she wore, her hair in two loose messy braids behind her ears and no makeup. She still looked great he thought.  
  
"No...he can see me as is." She said and left.  
  
***  
  
Trunks put the phone down after she hung up and leaned back in his desk chair looking out the window wall at the city. He'd been thinking about her again all day. He'd called Yamucha's shortly after Goten left hoping to see her then but Yamucha told him she was out. His heart had jumped a bit every time the phone rang the rest of the day. He'd had the inevitable conversation with his mother who saw the article in the paper. Trying to avoid making the same mistake twice he said he was misquoted. Bulma wasn't buying it but let it go for the time being. When Goten had called to see if he wanted to go out he'd declined, by then he was determined to talk this thing out with Marron and make her understand how he felt. He didn't want to make any more mistakes with her.  
  
He glanced down at the tank and shorts he'd been wearing to do paperwork in and decided to change. He put on a clean black long sleeve t-shirt and a fresh pair of jeans. He smirked at himself in the mirror for caring enough to bother changing at all. He went in the kitchen and started some rice - he was no great cook but was proficient enough to feed himself. He chopped some vegetables and chicken for teriyaki while he waited for her. He lit some candles around his apartment to provide ambient light, so the backdrop of the cityscape took the main focus.  
  
Finally after what seemed like forever his intercom buzzed. He unlocked the elevator and sent it down. He laughed at himself, as he couldn't decide where to wait for her to come up. This was a first for him that he was nervous and excited to see a girl. Usually it was the girl who was nervous and excited to be with him. He decided to start cooking.  
  
Marron stepped off the elevator into the dimly lit apartment. She held the clothes she borrowed against her chest. She frowned when she saw the candles and no Trunks...what head game was he playing with her now? Or did he always do paperwork by candlelight. It was far too late in the day and she was too tired to try and figure out what he was up to.   
  
"Are you here?" She called out a little crossly.   
  
"In the kitchen...I thought we could eat first." He called. She rolled her eyes, with Saiyajin's it was always about eating. But in this case eat first then what? Break Marron's heart on a full stomach? She dumped her boots by the door and hung up her jacket.  
  
"I brought back your clothes, they're clean. Where do you want them?" She called.  
  
"Anywhere is fine."  
  
Marron stalked to his bedroom intending to put them back exactly where she found them. She put them in his dresser and was shutting the drawer when she noticed that he had found her black ribbon. It was laid out neatly on the top of the dresser, she didn't know why but the fact that he had kept it tugged at her. She smiled a little and went to join him in the kitchen.   
  
She sat at the table pulling her knees up to her chest as she watched him cook. He looked over his shoulder at her and gave her a smile when she joined him.  
  
"I put them in your dresser." She told him.  
  
"Thanks. I put your purse on the table by the door." He said with out turning around. For one horrible second Marron was just tempted to go grab her purse and jacket and just bolt. Then she wouldn't have to sit here with her stomach in knots while she waited for him to feed her teriyaki and drop the next bomb on her. She put her chin on her knees as she watched him make the sauce. Her eyes raked over his body in the loose black shirt and jeans...he looked good. But then Trunks could wear a potato sack and look good.   
  
"I didn't get a chance to tell you last night, you have a nice place." She said to break the silence.  
  
"Thank you. The company owns it, it was supposed to be for visiting VIP's but when Kaasan had me take over as president I told her I wanted a place in town. And so - long story short I ended up with the penthouse. It's too big for just me but I like it."  
  
She glanced around. She only saw the living room, bedroom and den against the glass walls with the kitchen and elevator against the solid. It was spacious but didn't seem THAT big.  
  
"Really? This is too big?" She asked. He glanced over his shoulder.  
  
"There are more rooms upstairs." He said stirring the pan.  
  
"There's an upstairs? I had no idea."   
  
"Well I wasn't exactly in the condition to give you the guided tour last night. I'll show them to you later if you want." He laughed. "Thank you for bringing me home by the way, that one drink really kicked my butt."   
  
"Probably because you had an empty stomach. Were you too terribly hung over this morning? I tried to give you as much liquid as I could get you to swallow so you wouldn't get one."  
  
"No...not too bad." Trunks served up two plates of the teriyaki and put them on the table. "There. Now that I'm not cooking I can say hello to you properly." He said as he put her plate down on the table in front of her.   
  
Marron looked up at him from where she sat, puzzled by what he meant as he leaned over and gave her a deep languorous kiss that had her blushing to the roots of her hair by the time he drew back and sat across from her at the table with a smile.  
  
"Let's eat."  
  
***  
  
"Dinner was very good, thank you." Marron said as she took her plate to the sink to wash it. They had eaten in silence, Trunks because he was eating with typical Saiyajin abandon and Marron because she had no idea what to say or even think after his kiss.  
  
She washed all the dishes in spite of his protests that she didn't have to; it was a way to postpone the inevitable. Her hands shook as she dried them and put them away. She could feel his eyes on her back from where he leaned in the doorway. She wiped down the counter and hung up the dishtowel taking a deep breath, as there was nothing left to do to stall.  
  
"Do you want the upstairs tour now?" He asked lightly. Marron didn't turn around from her contemplation of the sink.  
  
"No. I think we should just talk and get it over with Trunks." She said softly.  
  
"All right." He came forward and took her hand pulling her gently after him as he went into the candlelit living room.  
  
Marron's heart beat in her ears as she followed him. It was just so confusing...what did he want from her? Did he want her for a girlfriend or just a friend? They had been friends for so long and now everything was changing fast. She just wanted to know where she stood with him. Things with Trunks were far more thrilling and scary and complicated than life with Shiro had ever been.  
  
She thought he would let go of her when they got to the living room but he just sat down in a huge overstuffed chair pulling her down too so she sat with her legs across his lap her back against the cushion of the chair arm. She watched him warily, she knew she should get up and sit somewhere else, but Dende help her she couldn't move - didn't want to move when she was this close to him.   
  
He took one of her hands in his and studied it, his expression thoughtful in the candlelight. She was glad it was her right hand lest he question the short nails and calloused fingertips she had on her left from playing guitar. He was silent so long Marron was about to say something when he raised his eyes to hers.  
  
"I'm sorry Marron...." He said quietly and twined his fingers with hers.  
  
"For what?" She squeaked nervously.  
  
"I should never have told that reporter that you were my girlfriend. It was a mistake...it just slipped out." He said and Marron's heart fell through the floor as tears pricked at the back of her eyes. Before he could say anything else Marron wiggled out of his lap and stood up. He still had her hand though and she tugged trying to get free so she could escape before she started crying and made a huge fool out of herself.  
  
"Let go." She whimpered. Trunks frowned at her and held on to her hand as she leaned back trying to get free.  
  
"Where are you going? I wasn't finished..."   
  
There was more? Terrific. She thought dejectedly and sank to the floor sitting on her heels in front of the chair her head bowed. Loose strands of hair that had worked their way free of her messy braids fell over her face. He held her captured hand in both of his.  
  
"Get on with it then." She said to the floor.  
  
"It was a mistake to say it publicly without talking to you first. I've done everything wrong with you Marron and I'm very sorry."   
  
She groaned inwardly...it just got better and better. Look on the bright side; heartache makes for great song material. She thought as tears slipped silently from her eyes.  
  
"If you don't think of me that way then why did you kiss me? I'm so confused...I just don't know what you want from me Trunks. Am I just your friend or what?"   
  
Trunks was puzzled at her statement until he realized looking at her bowed head that she was misunderstanding him. He reached down and tipped her chin up so she was looking at him. He saw the bright tracks of her tears on her face but she wouldn't meet his eyes. He held her face in his hands and brushed the tears away with his thumbs.  
  
"You're more than just a friend to me Marron...at least I'd like you to be." He said softly.   
  
"You would? Since when?" She asked incredulously.  
  
"Since I can't stop thinking about you. Since you came into my life again. Since always." He said caressing her cheekbones with his thumbs.  
  
"Really? It didn't always seem like it...you've been being kind of weird."   
  
"I know, that's what I meant about doing everything wrong...last night I just really screwed up and I'd like to make it up to you.   
  
"What?" He said as Marron's mouth fell open.  
  
"I have never in my life ever heard you admit to being wrong before Trunks...I didn't think it was possible."  
  
"That I could be wrong or admit it?" He teased.   
  
"Either." He pulled her back up and onto the chair with him only this time she leaned her head against his shoulder her forehead on his neck. "You still owe me." She said softly.  
  
"Was I that bad last night?" He chuckled.   
  
"You don't remember?" She asked. If he didn't remember her telling him she loved him than she wasn't going to remind him. He played with her fingers idly just enjoying her closeness and how her hair smelled like flowers.  
  
"Not everything, I remember you making me food...did I make a huge ass of myself?"   
  
She grinned. "You were cute."   
  
"Cute?"  
  
"You get very...cuddly...when you're drunk."   
  
"Really? I've only ever been drunk around Goten...he never mentioned cuddly." He said. She giggled.  
  
"Maybe it's just around girls then."  
  
He shifted in the chair and brought his lips down on hers in a sweet kiss. "Maybe it's just you." He murmured and kissed her again deeper.  
  
She closed her eyes and leaned into his kiss. The blood was singing in her veins...is this what it felt like when something was totally right? Was she falling for him all over again or had she never stopped? She decided she didn't want to analyze it, just let whatever was happening between them take it's course. He pulled back slightly and she opened her eyes. He smiled at her and brushed his fingers over her cheek softly.  
  
"Thank you for taking care of me last night Marron...I'm sorry you missed the party on my account. You really did look beautiful in that dress."  
  
"I'm sorry it ended up being a waste of money for you." She said as she ran her fingers over the close cut portion of his hair on the back of his head. He closed his eyes and practically purred...he loved having his hair played with.  
  
"It wasn't a waste. I'll take you out special and you can wear it for me again."  
  
"Darn right you will...you still owe me." She said with a slow smile. His grin got mischievous.  
  
"Then I better get to work making it up to you." He said and stood holding her lightly in his arms. Her eyes were as bright as her smile as she wrapped her arms around his neck.  
  
"Now you're talking sense." She said as he carried her to his room.  
  
*** 


	9. Off to the mall...fun,fun,fun

Trunks woke feeling more contented and relaxed than he remembered feeling in a very long time. It wasn't just because of a night of great - strike that - fantastic sex, it was something else. He turned his head and saw the reason for his contentment sleeping next to him. She was curled on her side facing the wall, silk sheets pooled around her hips exposing the lovely length of her back to him. He turned on his side and leaned on an elbow watching her sleep, he was debating waking her when she rolled onto her back and slowly opened her eyes. She yawned and stretched like a cat before pulling the sheet up to her armpits.   
  
"Good morning beautiful." He said softly. She turned sleepy blue eyes to him.  
  
"H'lo." She mumbled. He grinned and kissed her.  
  
"I take it we take a while to wake up?" He asked and rubbed her nose with his. She nodded closing her eyes again.   
  
"Time isit?" She asked. He glanced over at his clock.  
  
"After nine." She nodded again and rolled toward him throwing her arm over him and nuzzling his throat drowsily. He rubbed her back lightly while she dozed.  
  
"Marron?"  
  
"Hnh?" She grunted. He grinned - he thought HE was slow to wake up in the morning, true he did have her up half the night.  
  
"You awake yet?"   
  
She sat up holding the sheet up with her armpits and blinked at him blearily. "Working on it...need shower and tea." She said groggily getting up and padding nude into the bathroom. She started the water running and glanced in the mirror at the rat's nest of hair on her head and looked around for a brush.  
  
"Hey Trunks?" She called to the other room as she looked on the vanity.  
  
"What?" He said right behind her. She jumped and bumped into him so he put his hands on her shoulders to steady her.  
  
"Okay! I'm awake now!" She said clutching her chest as her heart ran like a ryohki. "Can I borrow your brush if you have one?"   
  
He got the brush out of the drawer but rather than give it to her he started to gently work the knots out of her long hair, seeming to understand without her saying that she had to brush it before washing or she'd never get it detangled. She closed her eyes enjoying the hair brushing.  
  
"You're going to spoil me." She warned. He grinned and kissed her shoulder.  
  
"That's the plan."  
  
They took a quick shower together taking turns under the water and washing each other's back. Trunks handed her a fluffy towel and she dried and wrapped herself in it before searching his room to see what had become of her clothes. She was finishing getting dressed when Trunks came back in from the kitchen, towel still wrapped around his lean hips.  
  
"Tea's on." He said. She nodded her thanks and went spelunking under the bed to find her other sock. "I was kind of hoping we could spend the day together." He said in the direction of her backside; which was the only thing visible from under his bed.   
  
"Yatta!" She cried from under the bed and emerged with her wayward sock. She stood and looked at him. "Sorry? Did you say something? I couldn't hear you." He grinned she was so cute.   
  
"I said I was hoping we could spend the day together."   
  
"I only have til about six, and I have some stuff to get done before then but if you want to come with me..." She said with a shrug and went in the kitchen. Trunks got dressed and joined her tucking his t-shirt into his jeans. She was sitting at the table with her hands wrapped around a cup of tea frowning into the bottom of it. He grinned at her and paused to kiss her on the top of the head before getting his own.  
  
"Is my tea that bad?" He joked. She raised her eyes to him as he sat next to her a troubled look still furrowing her brow. He took her hand and laced his fingers with hers.  
  
"Trunks...did we actually resolve anything last night?" She asked. He raised an eyebrow at her and smirked. "Besides that."  
  
"You mean are we together now?" He asked. She nodded.   
  
"I-" He started before he was interrupted by Goten who casually strolled into the kitchen unannounced and got himself a cup of tea.  
  
"Morning lovebirds...don't you two look cozy." He grinned as he sat down across from Marron. Trunks glared at him.  
  
"Marron, remind me to start LOCKING the balcony door."   
  
"Trunks lock the balcony door." She said absently and got up from the table. "I need the phone." She mumbled after pouring another cup of tea. Trunks pointed.  
  
"Use the one in my office." She muttered her thanks and went to his office with her tea rumpling Goten's hair as she went past by way of greeting. Goten waited until he heard the door shut before turning to Trunks with a massive grin.  
  
"You dog! I want details!"  
  
Trunks' eyes narrowed dangerously.  
  
***  
  
"Moshi Moshi?" Yamucha answered the ringing phone even though he knew good and well who was calling.  
  
"I'm not dead." Marron said on the other end. He grinned glad she was checking in.  
  
"Well that's encouraging...means I don't have to send out a search party. You where I think you are?"  
  
"I'm at Trunks'. Has anyone called for me?" Yamucha shifted the phone and looked.  
  
"Your Tousan's called twice wanting to know when you're coming home and Shiro called, he said to tell you quote: pre-gig rehearsal at six - don't be late, un-quote."  
  
"Thanks Yamucha...sorry I haven't been around much to visit with you." She told him.  
  
"That's okay kiddo. Since I have you on the phone I did have a couple of things that occurred to me I want you to think about." He said. On her end Marron drank some of her tea before answering.  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"One, are you going to keep playing in the band with Shiro?"  
  
"Probably, I really like the band. Shiro's got a great group together."  
  
"That means you need to stay in the city - Puar and I are going to be heading home soon so you'll need to find a place to live. Which brings me to the second point - are you going to tell your folks about being in the band?"  
  
"Not yet." She said tucking her damp hair behind an ear.  
  
"What about Trunks?" She bit her lip, she had no reason not to tell him other than the black spiky haired reason currently sucking down tea in the kitchen and pestering him for details no doubt. She adored her friend Goten but he had a big mouth and if Trunks knew, he'd know and if Goten knew she might as well just tell her folks because everybody would know.  
  
"Not yet." She repeated. Yamucha sighed.  
  
"And now to the third point, now that you have been publicly linked to Trunks don't you think that people seeing you play are going to recognize you? How are you going to keep it from getting back to Trunks or your folks if that happens?"  
  
"KUSO!" She yelled. She'd never thought of that! What was she going to do? She really wanted to be in a band again, to be creative; she'd enjoyed playing with Shiro yesterday a lot, it had been great to get applause. She wasn't ready to give that up.  
  
"What should I do?" She asked Yamucha.  
  
"You could just bite the bullet and tell everyone that you didn't major in business and majored in music instead against their wishes and that you've joined a band with your ex-boyfriend that you lived with for a year and a half in college..."  
  
"You knew about that?" She half shrieked.  
  
"...Cause you know Trunks will especially love that part, now that you're sleeping with him." Yamucha finished. "Of course I knew about it. You're just lucky Kuririn didn't."  
  
"You have an evil streak Uncle Yamucha, you sound like you're enjoying this...next option."  
  
"I think you should just come clean and take the wrath." He offered. "It's not like you're pregnant or anything, you haven't committed a crime."  
  
She blanched at the word pregnant, great something else to potentially worry about in the dark hours of the night...  
  
"Tell that to my folks. NEXT OPTION." She repeated more firmly.  
  
"Wear a disguise?"   
  
She laughed.  
  
"It's corny...it's simple. It might work. You are brilliant! Have I mentioned how much I love you?" She told him. Yamucha smiled on his end of the phone.  
  
"Not lately."  
  
"Well I do..." She said warmly. "I better get going. I'll see you later ne?"  
  
"I'll be around." He told her.  
  
"Give Puar my love." She said before hanging up. She leaned back in Trunks' desk chair much as he had done the night before. More complications...it was true, life got harder the older you got.   
  
***  
  
"So what's the plan people?" Goten said as he leaned in the backseat of Trunks' car. Marron smiled at him over her shoulder from the front before glancing at Trunks' scowling face. He'd pretty much had the same expression since she came out of his office and found him wrestling Goten into interesting shapes in the kitchen for some reason.   
  
"Marron has some errands to run...is there anywhere I can DROP you OFF." Trunks said pointedly looking at Goten in the rearview mirror. Goten grinned back fully aware of how annoyed Trunks was with him.  
  
"Nope...I'll tag along." Goten said and laced his hands behind his head. Trunks bared his teeth at the road. He had wanted to spend the day with Marron alone - now it seemed Goten had decided to be the third wheel. Dende help him, he hoped he didn't think of -  
  
"Hey! I'll call Paris and maybe she can meet us for lunch!" Goten said cheerfully and flipped open his cell phone and started dialing. Trunks groaned.  
  
Marron chuckled sympathetically and patted his knee.  
  
They went to Yamucha's first so Marron could change clothes, Trunks enduring Goten's good-natured teasing about why Marron would need to change in the first place.  
  
Yamucha and Puar were out so Marron motioned toward the couch for them to sit.  
  
"I'll just be a couple of minutes." She said heading for her room. Trunks was right behind her.  
  
"Yeah, we'll be out in a few minutes." He repeated and closed the door behind them cutting off Goten's amused snicker. Marron glanced over her shoulder at him, glad that she had put her guitar cases under the bed. She turned to face him a bemused expression on her face.  
  
"Can I help you? I CAN change clothes by myself you know." She said tossing the black evening bag she'd gone to Trunks' to get on the bed and putting her hands on her hips.   
  
He flopped down on her bed on his back arms flung wide. He let his breath out blowing his bangs off his face as she shook her head and looked for clothes. She was thinking about whether she should dress for the gig tonight or come back and change when he spoke.  
  
"All I wanted was to spend the day with you...alone...how did we get roped into having lunch with Goten and Paris?" He whined.  
  
"Because you're such a nice guy." She said from the depths of the closet as she undressed. "It could be worse...he could have called your sister and Pan." She pointed out. She surveyed her clothes as she stood there in her underwear, she wasn't worried about him seeing her - he'd seen her in far less last night. "What to wear..." She said under her breath.  
  
Trunks got up and stood behind her putting his hands on her shoulders. He looked into the closet with her. "Just don't say the 'B' or the 'P' word in front of him or he will...and then we'll end up at the mall!"  
  
She cringed. "I hate to break this to you buuuttt...that was one of my errands." She said. He gave her a horrified look.  
  
"Et tu...Marron? You are a shopping fiend too?" She snorted derisively.  
  
"I don't think so...I have better things to spend my money on. I hate shopping." Unless it's for musical equipment, she finished in her head. She reached into the closet and pulled out a simple short-sleeved black dress with a scoop neck and flared skirt that ended mid thigh. She turned to ask Trunks what he thought and found him on his knees beside her tears pouring out of his eyes.  
  
"A woman who doesn't like to shop! I Love You! Where have you been all my life?" He said dramatically.  
  
"Kame House...What do you think of this?" She said holding up the dress as he picked himself up off of the floor.   
  
"Looks great...let's go."  
  
***  
  
Not fair...just not fair. Trunks thought to himself as he and Goten trailed after Paris, Marron, Bra and Pan. All he had wanted was to spend the day with his new girlfriend alone. If he'd had his way they wouldn't have even made it out of his apartment yet, just hung around and been lazy...but no...he was here...shopping.  
  
Lunch with Goten and Paris had been tolerable; Marron had seemed to enjoy herself so Trunks could put up with the inanity. Things hadn't gotten really bad until like an idiot, Trunks had mentioned Marron needing to pick something up at the mall. Paris had jumped on that idea like a flea on a dog. So the four of them - Trunks had been hoping in vain to decrease the day's attendance on this outing - headed to the mall where much to Trunks' displeasure his sister and Goten's niece were already there holding court.  
  
He scowled and watched the swish of Marron's dress as it brushed her legs with each step she took ahead of him as she chatted with Paris. Bra and Pan led the way and as usual he and Goten were the mules bringing up the rear. What should have been a thirty-minute trip for Marron was dragging into hours since they had met up with Pan and Bra.   
  
As if she knew he was looking at her Marron dropped back and walked next to him. He would have taken her hand if his hadn't been filled with his sister's purchases.  
  
"Sorry about this...it wasn't what I had in mind for this afternoon either." She said sympathetically. He smiled for her; he knew it wasn't her fault.  
  
Goten made it to the next section of benches and threw himself and the packages he was burdened with down. "No more! I give up. You go on without me...I'll wait here." He said waving a hand at Bra and Pan. Trunks added the packages he was carrying to the pile and sat next to him. This was the opportunity Marron had been waiting for.  
  
"You guys stay here and rest. I'm just going to go run down to this shop and get something." Marron said as Pan and Bra were arguing over which direction to go next to what sale and Paris watched them curiously. Trunks jumped up after her.  
  
"I'll go with you." He said. Marron groaned inwardly. She saw something out of the corner of her eye and an evil plan bloomed in her mind. She sidled up next to Trunks and put her arm around him pulling his head down so she could whisper in his ear while she caressed the back of his neck.  
  
"You want to come into that sexy lingerie store with me? Help me pick something out to wear for you...or should I just surprise you instead?" She said as seductively as she could manage, then whispered a few more ideas she had in his ear. He blushed to the roots of his hair as his imagination ran wild and Bra started asking him what his problem was. Pan just glowered in Marron's direction. Trunks went back and sat next to Goten waving his hand at Marron to go on without him as he sweated and his face turned redder, Goten pounding him on the back.  
  
Marron headed toward the lingerie store but before she went in she looked back to see if they were watching her, everyone was staring at Trunks who had his head between his knees, Goten still thumping his back.  
  
She slipped into the Lingerie shop, normally not a place she would have gone into. She headed toward the back where they kept some of the more 'novelty' items. She was taking a chance and it paid off when she saw a small selection of wigs. She quickly chose a bright magenta one in a chin length bob. It should more than do the trick as a disguise. She was heading for the counter to pay for it when she remembered she'd said she'd get something to wear for him. She looked around wildly, most of the lingerie in this place made her blush just to look at it let alone wear it. She found a black sheer negligee that didn't look too bad.  
  
The sales girl looked at the wig and negligee and then at Marron who was looking through a display of eyeglasses before selecting a silver square framed pair with pink lenses...rose tinted glasses, she thought to herself with a smile.  
  
"I've seen your picture in the paper. You're Trunks Briefs' girlfriend aren't you?" The girl asked curiously. Marron tucked her loose hair behind her ear and nodded giving the sales girl a small smile. "You are SO lucky! He's such a hottie!"  
  
The girl rang the purchase up biting her lower lip. Marron had paid her and was taking the tacky hot pink bag from her when the girl found her courage.  
  
"I never would have expected his girlfriend to be shopping HERE though." She said disapprovingly. Marron narrowed her eyes and smiled wickedly.  
  
"He likes it when I dress up like his secretary and..." Marron lowered her voice to finish the thought and the girl fell over backwards. Marron took her bag and walked away from her twitching feet.  
  
"Have a nice day!" She called back as she left the store. She had no idea where her evil streak came from...must be her mother, she thought as she rejoined the group. 


	10. The Pink Haired Kook

  
"You know...this actually looks really cute on you Marron." Aya said around a mouthful of hairpins as she helped Marron tuck her blonde hair up under the magenta wig. They were backstage at the club getting ready for their show. Aya tucked a lock of her long curly green hair behind her ear and took a hairpin out of the corner of her mouth to secure the wig.  
  
Marron watched her new friend fix her hair with a small smile. She had only met the band's keyboardist the day before but they were already fast friends. Aya was stunning, a tall quiet willowy girl with dark green hair and hazel eyes. Marron liked her very much; she liked all the band members Shiro had gotten together in fact. Kenji, the blonde haired bass player who was quick with a joke, usually at Shiro's expense and Harmon, their stout drummer with his clean-shaven head and scary expression that belied the sweetest guy.  
  
Shiro came storming backstage to find the girls, annoyed that he and Harmon had been doing all the set up while Kenji watched in amusement picking out an accompaniment on his bass guitar. Shiro pulled up short when he saw what Marron and Aya were doing and ran a hand through his unruly black hair.  
  
"Tell me you're NOT going to wear...THAT?" He stammered pointing at Marron's wig and clothes. Marron swung her legs and smiled at him sweetly from where she sat perched on the folding table, she wore the same black dress from earlier but she now wore black knee high work boots that laced up and the brightest most electric blue stockings that ended above the knee but a few inches short of her hemline. "You look bizarre...you don't look like you." He complained.  
  
Marron winked at him and made a clucking noise as she held her hand out toward him like a gun, index finger and thumb pointing out. Aya straightened and put a hand on her hip.  
  
"I think that's the idea." Aya told him in exasperation. Shiro threw up his hands and went back out to the stage to finish the sound check. Aya turned back toward Marron as her now magenta haired friend put on the rose colored glasses. She was so glad there was another girl in the band now.  
  
"How do I look?" Marron asked her and jumped off the table, striking a pose. Aya laughed and handed her the makeup bag.  
  
"Well, Shiro has a point...you don't look like you, but I like it."   
  
"Thanks. I feel like a different person. It's fun." Marron said and turned to the mirror, taking off the glasses so she could put makeup on so she wouldn't look like death warmed over under the stage lights. Aya had already done hers and the taller girl leaned against the table next to her and fiddled with Marron's glasses looking toward where Shiro had disappeared.  
  
"Marron...do you mind if I ask you a personal question?"   
  
"Shoot." Marron said as she applied her lip-liner.   
  
"What happened with you and Shiro? He won't talk about it."  
  
"Well...we lived together in college for almost two years. We were in three bands together during that time, and we wrote a lot of music together then too. But we had...problems. We work great together musically but as a couple..." Marron shrugged before continuing.   
"He graduated before me and he kept pressuring me to make a bigger commitment to the band and to our relationship than I was able or willing to make. So I left." Marron said simply even as she was remembering the fights they'd had about her reluctance to tell her parents about her music...about him. He'd said she was ashamed of him, that she'd never loved him.  
  
Marron had liked him a lot and had cared for him deeply, but he had been right, she hadn't loved him, not in the way he wanted her to. It was like her heart was waiting for Trunks even if she didn't know it. She was just glad she and Shiro had remained friends. She looked at Aya who was watching her carefully.  
  
"We stayed friends though. Why do you ask?" Marron asked the green haired girl. Aya shrugged and blushed prettily. Marron grinned. It was obvious she had a thing for him. Marron put the glasses on and put her arm around the taller girl as Shiro stuck his head around the stage door to tell them they were on in five minutes. Seeing the two of them with their arms slung over each other's shoulders he stepped through the door eyeing them suspiciously.  
  
"What are you two up to now?" He asked warily. Marron and Aya beamed at him and gave him 'V' signs.  
  
"Nothing! We're ready!" They chirped in unison. His eyes narrowed in disbelief before they turned on Marron in mild disdain for her attire.  
  
"All right you pink haired kook we're leading off with our songs so get ready." He said and went to round up Harmon and Kenji. Aya stared longingly after his tall lanky frame. Marron squeezed her shoulder before letting go of the taller girl.  
  
"The way to that one's heart is through music. Tell him you want to work together on a song and boom! He'll be putty in your hands." Marron whispered to her. Aya turned her big hazel eyes to her.  
  
"You really think?" She asked hopefully. Marron winked and tipped a thumbs up.  
  
"Would this 'pink haired kook' lie to you?"  
  
***  
  
Kuririn slammed the receiver of the phone down on its cradle in frustration. He'd tried to reach Marron at Yamucha's again with no luck, only now he couldn't even get a hold of Yamucha to find out where his daughter was.  
  
Juuhachi-gou looked up at him from where she was reading.  
  
"I told you Kuririn...stop worrying about her. She's probably with Trunks." She told him tonelessly and went back to her book. Kuririn paced even more agitated at the thought of his daughter...his baby...off Dende knew where, doing Dende knew what, with Trunks, the bachelor playboy.  
  
"And that's another thing Juu! Why didn't she tell us about being Trunks' girlfriend!" Kuririn steamed, and had been steaming since he'd seen the article in the paper. Juu raised her pale blue eyes to her pacing husband again. Gee, I wonder...she thought wryly as she watched him. Maybe she thought you'd overreact. He worried far too much about their only child, he always had.   
  
They had been a study in contrasts, Kuririn much too overprotective and smothering and Juuhachi-gou lenient and standoffish. Perhaps that's why her daughter had always been so fond of the scarred human Yamucha, Juu pondered, because he was the happy medium between her parent's extremes. For all her distance though Juuhachi-gou loved her daughter with an intensity that had frightened her at first when her miracle child had been born. Marron was the best in her; the best in Kuririn.  
  
"Do you really think she tells us everything in her life Kuririn? She's an adult." His wife told him. He stopped pacing; the concept of his Marron keeping things from him so alien he couldn't even form words. His mouth just opened and shut. Juuhachi-gou closed her book and beckoned him over to her with a small smile.  
  
"Kuririn instead of worrying about when Marron's coming home or what she's doing, why don't you think about enjoying the time we have together alone." Juu said with rare warmth. Kuririn looked down at his seated wife and thought about her words, he smiled and kissed her as she tipped her head up to him.  
  
"You're right...I guess I do worry about her too much don't I?" He laughed scratching the back of his head. Juuhachi-gou nodded in agreement and took his hand. Standing she led him upstairs to their room.  
  
" Let's see if we can't find something else to occupy your mind with." Juu said mildly.  
  
***  
  
"NO! 'N' - 'O', I don't feel like going!" Trunks yelled at Goten and kept watching TV trying to ignore him. He was still really annoyed with Goten for in his mind, ruining his day with Marron. He hadn't even gotten to talk to her privately before she'd left them at the mall saying something about having to get to work, giving him a breezy kiss on the cheek and a promise to come over later.   
  
"Aww come on...you'll have fun. I personally guarantee that YOU, Trunks Briefs will have a good time if you come with us." Goten said. Us, consisting of Goten, Paris, Bra and Pan whom he still hadn't been able to shake even after they left the mall. They were now all crawling around his apartment. He had hoped that if he ignored them and watched TV they would get bored and leave...he should be so lucky.  
  
"Come with us Oniichan." Bra wheedled sticking her face in front of his and blocking the TV. Goten grinned.  
  
"Yeah! 'Oniichan' come with us. I swear you will like this band. I've seen them before lots of times but I heard they have a new guitarist." Goten said putting his pleading face next to Bra's.  
  
Trunks scowled. "You're not going to go away until I go are you?" He asked them. Goten beamed sensing victory.  
  
"Nope." Bra said cheerfully. Trunks slouched in his chair and grunted his surrender. Bra and Pan cheered and grabbing the stuff they bought at the mall headed upstairs to change. Paris stuck her head out of the kitchen where she had been trying to make tea.  
  
"Um...Goten?" She said timidly. Goten looked at her and saw black smoke billowing past her and he ran to fix whatever catastrophe she had committed this time. Trunks just slunk lower in his chair and glowered.  
  
"Che..."  
  



	11. Are you listening?

AUTHORS NOTE: I put the lyrics to the New Found Glory song "These Girls Are Crazy" in the mouth of Shiro. Shutting up now...  
  
***  
  
  
Shiro peeked out at the crowd in the club to see what kind of turnout they got. There were two levels in the club; the upper was reserved for those under the drinking age while the lower had the bar. Shiro was pleased to see that both levels were pretty full. He happened to see a familiar face and raised his hand in greeting.  
  
"Marron...your uncle is here." Shiro called over his shoulder. Marron ducked under his arm and peeked out as well. She saw Yamucha over by the bar and waved to him. He beckoned her over with an urgent look on his face.   
  
"Back in a sec." She told Shiro who tried to grab her by the back of the dress since they were about to go on. Marron ducked into the crowd and made her way over to Yamucha.   
  
"I don't want to panic you but I saw Goten here." Yamucha told her when she reached him. She nodded.  
  
"Did you see where he went?" She asked.   
  
"Upstairs." Yamucha told her. Marron breathed a sigh of relief, from the second floor and with her wig there's no way he'd recognize her.  
  
"Just Goten?" She asked. Yamucha nodded. Marron stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek before disappearing into the crowd again to make her way to the stage.  
  
She caught Shiro's arm as they were going onstage just outside the edge of the lights. He looked down at her as she slung her guitar over her shoulder. She turned her face up to him and he leaned down to hear her over the applause of the crowd, as the other band members appeared onstage.  
  
"I know you don't understand the wig thing and all Shiro...but I need you to NOT say my name when you introduce the band. I'll explain later." She promised. He looked at her with a sad expression in his brown eyes. It was the same as when they had been together...she was so afraid of someone finding out about her talent.  
  
"Oh I understand it all too well Marron...you're STILL hiding." He said and walked out onstage before she could argue.  
  
***  
  
Trunks leaned on the upstairs railing and waited for Goten to come back with their drinks. He may have agreed to come to the show, and he may have to stay upstairs in the underage section because of Bra and Pan but that didn't mean he had to drink the kiddie drinks they were serving at the upstairs bar. He had standards, damnit.  
  
Goten came back with their beers and joined him at the railing, Paris had decided not to come because she had to get up early for a photo shoot and needed her rest. Trunks had tried to weasel out of it too but Goten had told him there was no way he was going to be in charge of two teenaged girls in the club by himself. He found himself wishing Marron was there...at least then being trapped in teenybopper HFIL, or listening to Goten go on and on about this band would be tolerable.  
  
The lights on the stage dimmed and then came back up indicating the start of the show. Three band members walked out, a tall pretty girl with green hair took her place behind an impressive set of keyboards. Goten grinned next to him and pointed.  
  
"That's Aya." He told him. Trunks just sipped his beer and said nothing. Goten then pointed to the bass player a tall guy with long blonde hair. "That's Kenji...he's really funny. And Harmon's the drummer, nice guy even if he reminds you of Yajirobe." Goten told him.  
  
"I take it you know these people." Trunks said. Goten nodded and drank his beer.  
  
"I dated Aya for awhile before I met Paris. Paris-chan and I saw this band awhile back and we ended up hanging out with them after their show. We probably will tonight too...I wanna meet the new guitarist since Roy left. Wonder where Shiro is?"  
  
As if in answer to Goten's question two figures appeared from the shadows at the back of the stage to applause. Trunks found himself jostled as Bra and Pan squirmed their way in front of Goten and Trunks to get a place at the railing where they could see. Pan gave him one of her you-know-you-love-it looks and turned back toward the stage as Trunks rolled his eyes and stood behind her relinquishing his prime viewing spot to her.  
  
The one who was obviously Shiro walked up to the microphone amid cheers and some female screams. Trunks supposed the guy was good-looking enough; he was tall and slender with an unruly thatch of black hair that fell in his eyes. He hung his guitar over his shoulder and smiled at the crowd. When the applause and catcalls died down a bit he spoke.  
  
"Wow, thanks a lot for the warm welcome. For our first song, and in honor of our newest band member...this pink haired kook right here..." He said grinning and jerked his thumb at the slender magenta haired girl in pink glasses next to him. "...We're going to start with a favorite."  
  
Marron gnashed her teeth, she knew Shiro was just teasing her but she wished he'd stop calling her a 'pink haired kook'. So it was almost with a vengeance that she stepped to the edge of the stage and ripped out the opening chords of the song. The instant the music hit her ears and the hot lights turned her vision to a rose colored haze Marron relaxed. She suddenly didn't care what Shiro called her as the joy of making music caught her up like it always did. She tipped her head to look at Shiro as he started playing too and leaned into the microphone for the first verse looking at her with a pointed gaze.  
  
Some girls are crazy...  
Just listen to what I have to say about it.  
You gotta watch out for the beautiful ones  
They'll twist your head right off your neck,  
And laugh about it with their friends...  
  
Marron smirked and turned away as she played. So it was going to be like that was it?   
  
It's just one night for them...  
They'll target you with their eyes  
And move with their lips...  
  
Kenji moved to his microphone for the harmony and Marron was really getting into the fast hard beat of the song...it was different from what she and Shiro had written together or what she wrote on her own. She hoped that with the way the crowd was eating up this song that they'd like it when it was her turn to sing.  
  
And now...are you listening?  
This song goes out to girls  
That we haven't met just yet...  
  
She jumped and danced around the stage as she played enjoying herself thoroughly. It was almost as if in the magenta wig she was another person so she just let herself go, since she was the only one not tied to a microphone or other non-portable instruments. Shiro kept half turning his head to see what she was doing and grinned as he kept singing.  
  
These girls are crazy...  
Just listen to what I have to say about it...  
You gotta watch out for those younger ones,  
They'll tightly wrap you round their fingers  
And brag to all their friends  
It's nothing but a game to them...  
  
Marron grinned back at him as he turned back to the crowd. She was in the center of the stage with Shiro on her left and Kenji and Aya on the right. The sound of Harmon's drumming almost like a second pulse. There is no better place to be; she thought other than in Trunks' arms.   
  
And it pulls you in,  
She shuts you down with her voice again  
And now...are you listening?  
  
She looked down at the stage so no one could see her frown. She didn't want to think about Trunks while she was playing or she'd get distracted. She would be thinking about him soon enough when she played the new song she wrote for him...she wished she could play it just for him. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and kept playing.  
  
You think you're on top of the world...  
When all the eyes are on you  
Just wait until your heart breaks  
And you'll know...how I felt...  
When I wrote this song...  
  
She ignored Shiro's gaze when he sang the last part. She knew she had hurt him badly when she left, it was evident in many of the songs he had written since they parted. They were good songs though she had to give him that, as she cranked out the ending chords and the crowd cheered.  
  
***  
  
Trunks had to admit the band was really good. Even with a new member they sounded like they had played together forever as they ripped and stomped their way through the first set then had a break. Bra and Pan were having a great time and moved away from the railing to dance with some friends from school, leaving Trunks and Goten to drink their beers and feel old.   
  
"The new guitarist is really something. They never sounded that good when Roy was playing with them." Goten told him as they waited for the band to come back.   
  
Trunks had found himself unable to tear his eyes away from the magenta haired girl, and it disturbed him. He had a girlfriend now...one he cared about a lot even if he hadn't had the chance to tell her yet. But there was something about the girl onstage, the way she jumped and danced around in wild abandon while she played in her black dress and electric blue socks that made him smile...she was cute.  
  
"You get the next round." Goten said when they had finished their beers. Trunks made his way downstairs to the bar after ignoring Pan and Bra's requests to get them 'real drinks'. He was waiting for the drinks when he sensed a familiar ki. He looked around the floor at the crowd who were dancing to a DJ while they waited for the band to return. He took the beers as he scanned the room trying to locate the person. He looked up at Goten who was talking to the pretty green haired keyboard player as he leaned against the railing with his back to him...he'd be no help. Then over by the side of the stage he saw a familiar profile.  
  
Yamucha? What's he doing here? Trunks wondered. He didn't seem like the type to like this kind of music. He watched and as Yamucha moved to the side he saw that he was in an animated discussion with the magenta haired guitarist. She was gesturing emphatically and looked upset. She stabbed a finger toward the upper level before folding her arms and scowling at Yamucha. Trunks cocked his head to the side, something about the scowl...  
  
The beers in his hands forgotten he started making his way toward them when he saw the tall singer come and tap the girl on the shoulder. She said something to Yamucha and disappeared backstage. Trunks was moving to intercept Yamucha when he lost him in the crowd. Trunks turned trying to see if he could see him but couldn't so he made his way back upstairs to Goten and the others.  
  
***  
  
"Thanks a lot." Shiro told the crowd when the band came back onstage to cheers. They had slightly changed the set up; there were now three microphones and in front of the drum kit there were several guitars lined up in stands. The magenta haired girl now had an acoustic guitar that seemed huge on her.  
  
"This next part of our show is a little different from what those of you who have seen us before are used to." Shiro said when the applause had once again died down.   
  
Marron stood a few steps back with her head down and her eyes lowered. She rested her arms on her guitar as she studied the toe of her boot and thought about the argument she'd just had with Yamucha.   
  
She'd sought Yamucha out when during the break Aya had pointed toward the upstairs and said she was going to go and talk to her old boyfriend. She'd followed Aya's finger to where Goten stood at the railing drinking a beer and talking to Trunks. Trunks was here!  
  
Her heart had started running like a rabbit and she excused herself and found Yamucha. Panicking she'd mentioned that both Goten and Trunks were there. And predictably Yamucha had advised just coming clean and stop trying to hide who she was. She was getting really sick of everyone saying that to her. She wished they would just understand she didn't want to disappoint her father, she doubted her mother would care as long as she was happy and made money.  
  
She lifted her head and tried to see out past the lights...to see if she could see Trunks somewhere among the crowd. She took a deep breath, Yamucha and Shiro were right...she was hiding.   
  
_Make your own future...be who YOU want to be, do what YOU want to do..._ She heard Yamucha's voice in her head again. She reached up and twined a lock of the magenta wig around her finger, she may not be ready to tell her father about her career choice but there was no reason not to tell Trunks after all he was her...what? Boyfriend? Lover? Who knew which? All those things aside he was her friend. He should understand.  
  
Shiro was explaining to the crowd that he and the guitarist, he introduced her as 'Kuri' she noticed with a wry smile, had worked together in several bands before and that they would now be playing music they had written together during that time.   
  
She was keeping the wig for now so she wouldn't be recognized as Trunks' girlfriend from the picture in the paper, but if Trunks and Goten recognized her so be it. And I'm definitely telling Trunks after the show...if he's still speaking to me by then, she thought, since a lot of the songs she and Shiro had written had been about their relationship.  
  
She took off the rose colored glasses and tossed them behind her before stepping up to her microphone. Shiro saw her out of the corner of his eye and stopped talking his words dying on his lips when he saw the determined look on her face. She looked at him and put her hand over the mike.  
  
"No more hiding..." She said and started to play.  
  
  



	12. Singing to shadows...a secret revealed

AUTHORS NOTE: Hiya...me again. Borrowed the lyrics of Guns N' Roses "Sweet Child O' Mine" for Marron to use...course I'm thinking more along the lines of the way Sheryl Crow performs it, but credit goes where credit is due...  
  
***  
  
From the upstairs railing Trunks caught sight of Yamucha near the bar. He slipped away from Goten and the girls and made his way down...he wanted to ask him how he knew the magenta haired guitarist who after Shiro's lengthy introduction had taken over lead vocals and rhythm guitar when earlier it had been Shiro singing and playing rhythm. She was an even better singer than guitarist and she and Shiro almost seemed in their own world as they played the songs they had written together.  
  
The crowd loved the catchy rhythms and clever lyrics as much as they had enjoyed the earlier hard stuff as they clapped and danced to the music. 'Kuri' and Shiro's voices blended and accentuated each other's perfectly casting a spell with every song they sang...it was with reluctance that Trunks tore his eyes away to search out Yamucha.  
  
He stood behind the older man at the bar and watched the band with him silently while the two sang a poignant and heart-rending song about unreturned love, their guitar work almost as beautiful as their voices. Trunks noticed that Shiro kept looking at Kuri as he sang the song, like it had special meaning for him, while Kuri seemed determined to not meet his gaze.  
  
Trunks looked over at Yamucha and found that the older warrior had turned around and was facing him. He didn't look very surprised to see him either. Yamucha jerked his head toward one of the exits and started moving his way through the crowd seeming to understand that Trunks wanted to ask him questions. They stood near the door where they could hear each other.  
  
"Yamucha...how do you know that girl?" Trunks asked getting right to the point. Yamucha looked across the club to the stage where 'Kuri' now stood bathed in a spotlight with her acoustic guitar, Trunks followed his gaze.  
  
Yamucha chuckled to himself as he watched Marron start to play the song she had written for Trunks. Her talent amazed him...she'd written it in only a few hours the night he had taken her flying and kissed her. Sorry, kid...I hope you forgive me, Yamucha thought and turned back to Trunks.  
  
"I've known her since she was born, Trunks...so have you." Yamucha told him. Trunks snapped his head around toward the stage where the girl in the black dress was singing. That dress! He suddenly remembered Marron standing in her closet earlier today holding that dress and asking him what he thought. Can't be! Was that Marron? He thought.  
  
"That's not..." He said to Yamucha.   
  
"That's Marron..." Yamucha confirmed. Trunks looked again and was surprised he hadn't seen it before. His brows came down in a scowl, why hadn't she ever told him she was a musician? Yamucha put his hand on the younger man's shoulder.  
  
"Don't be angry...she doesn't need that from you. She's going to get enough of that from her parents when they find out. She needs your support and understanding." Yamucha told him. Trunks still frowned a little bit; he was discovering an entire different side to Marron, a person he thought he knew so well growing up, but then again how well did she really know him? A lot had changed in their years apart.  
  
Yamucha leaned over to speak even quieter to the frowning lavender haired demi-Saiyajin. He may own his father's scowl but a lot of the way he thought came from Bulma so Yamucha knew exactly what was going through the younger man's mind.  
  
"Normally I wouldn't butt into your business Trunks, but that girl up there is like a daughter to me. I want for her, what makes her happy...and that's you. Do you hear that song she's singing? She wrote that for you...because she loves you."  
  
Trunks just stared. She loved him...why hadn't she ever said so? For him she had written a song and was pouring her heart out on stage. He realized he hadn't even heard the song as she finished and the band said their thanks and walked offstage.   
  
Yamucha watched Trunks' face as he processed the information. He hoped he'd been right about Trunks; otherwise Marron was going to be heartbroken. Trunks turned dumb eyes to Yamucha as people spilled out past them, leaving now that the show is over.  
  
"What should I do?" Trunks said both to Yamucha and himself. Yamucha chuckled.  
  
"Do you feel the same way?" He asked him. Trunks searched his feelings and realized he did. Since she'd come back into his life he'd been on a roller coaster plunge of falling in love with her. She was the perfect girl for him, his match.  
  
"I think I'm in love with her." He said. Yamucha grinned and leaned near his ear.  
  
"Tell her...not me. Here's what you should do..." Yamucha said whispering his advice into Trunks' ear. Trunks smiled at him and left to go implement the plan. Yamucha wandered off to find Goten, Bra and Pan.   
  
Marron could tease him all she wanted but Yamucha was still the master of love and romance.  
  
***  
  
Marron was exhausted by the time she took a quick shower in the tiny dressing room lavatory and helped break down the equipment. Shiro loaded all the equipment including Marron's electric guitar into the van to take with him until the next gig. Aya, Kenji and Harmon had already gone ahead to meet some friends at a café nearby. Marron slung the bag with her performing clothes over her shoulder and picked up her acoustic.  
  
"Sure you don't want me to take that?" Shiro asked standing by the van. Marron shook her head tiredly and yawned behind her hand.  
  
"Naw..I might want to write something." She told him and pulled her leather jacket closed against the late night chill.  
  
"And you're sure you don't want to join us for coffee?" He asked since he was on his way to join the others.   
  
"Too tired...maybe next time." She said and raised her hand at him as she walked up the street.   
  
"Want a ride home then?" He called after her. She turned around and walked backwards a ways smiling at him.  
  
"I'll be fine! Go have fun..." She said flapping her hand at him. Shiro stared after her longer than he should have before shaking his head and leaving to meet the others.   
  
She was so tired she didn't know what to do first. She had told Trunks she would come over later and she wanted to confess all to him but she was wiped out. Seeing an open café she crossed the street to it. Coffee first...then she'd decide what to do.  
  
She got her coffee to go and wandered up the street in the general direction of Trunks' apartment sipping the coffee...she really couldn't stand the stuff but she needed the caffeine.  
  
By the time she got to the park near Trunks' building it was nearly midnight and her coffee was long gone. She wasn't worried about being out at night alone, her parents may have refused to teach her martial arts but her Uncle Yamucha had certainly made sure she knew how to defend herself. She went and sat on a bench near the dry fountain at the center of the park. She could see Trunks' building from where she sat four or five more blocks away. As tired as she was she was starting to get nervous...how to tell him? She'd better think about this before she saw him.  
  
She got her guitar out of its case, she usually thought better with it in her hands. Almost absently her fingers picked out notes, bits and pieces of songs she'd written and songs she knew. She thought about Trunks and smiled, she should get going if she wanted to talk to him before she fell over on her face asleep mid sentence...which brought her mind back to why she was sitting in the park at midnight playing guitar and not at Trunks'.  
  
She raised her eyes to the dry fountain and could almost imagine Trunks was there, hunkered down on the top of it watching her in the weak streetlight. She shook her head and smiled crookedly...she must be really tired if she was thinking she was seeing Trunks lurking on fountains in the middle of the night.. She looked at the apparition again and it hadn't moved in the dim light, a sure sign to her she was overly tired and seeing things that weren't really there. She recalled her earlier wish that she could play him the song she wrote for him and smiled as she realized she could. She could play for her vision and pretend it was really him.  
  
"This is what I would say to you if you were really there Trunks, and not just in my mind. Everything between us is happening so fast that I still don't know for sure how you feel about it or where we stand. But I know how I feel about you...how I've always felt, I just don't know how to say it."   
  
She sighed this was sounding so lame, it's a good thing she decided to say it out loud so she didn't screw it up when he was actually there. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.  
  
"So I wrote this for you instead." She whispered the last as she started playing quietly.  
  
  
He's got a smile that it seems to me  
Reminds me of childhood memories  
Where everything  
Was as fresh as the bright blue sky  
  
Now and then when I see his face  
He takes me away to that special place  
And if I stared too long  
I'd probably break down and cry  
  
Oh Sweet child o' mine  
Oh Sweet love of mine  
  
  
She looked up from her guitar to the fountain's top and saw the vision straighten up from his crouch and jump down lightly to the ground. He came forward slowly moving from the shadow to the light and she saw it really was Trunks in black jeans and a baggy sweater that looked like the color of fog in the streetlights. It was only the habit of years of performing that kept her from stopping the song in surprise.  
  
  
He's got eyes of the bluest skies  
As if they thought of rain  
I hate to look into those eyes  
And see an ounce of pain  
  
His hair reminds me  
of a warm safe place  
Where as a child I'd hide  
And pray for the thunder  
And the rain  
To quietly pass me by   
  
Oh Sweet child o' mine  
Oh Sweet love of mine  
  
  
He stopped directly in front of her as she finished the song eyes on the ground. She blushed furiously as she put her guitar away glad for the excuse to not have to look at him. She felt vulnerable having just laid her heart bare; he had the power now to destroy her with a single word or action...I wonder if he knows he holds my heart in his hands? She thought...I just wish I knew if he feels the same.  
  
***  
  
Trunks looked down at her as she busied herself with putting her guitar away. He'd followed her all the way from the club to make sure she was safe intending to fly ahead when she got to his apartment so he could implement his plan to sweep her off her feet. When she'd gone into the park he'd been curious as to what she had been up to, especially when he saw her take out the guitar. As she'd sung for him he'd been unable to remain still and let her keep thinking she was imagining him.   
  
She was so beautiful to him as she sat in the dark singing, backlit by the nearby lamppost. Her rich throaty voice wrapped around him in a tender embrace as she sang, tugging at his heart. He was again overwhelmed that she had written a song for him, an expression of her feelings that touched him more deeply, made them more real, than any mere words ever could.   
  
No one had ever done anything like this for him before; in the past women had told him that they loved him, desired him. But Marron had taken her feelings and created something for him, touching a need inside him he hadn't even known was there, to open himself up to someone, as they were open to him.   
  
"Say something...I hate it when you just stare at me." Marron said head lowered. Trunks realized he'd been gazing at her intensely the entire time she'd been putting her guitar away. She sat before him with her hands in her lap her pale damp hair tousled and shining in the lamplight as she studied her hands.   
  
Trunks crouched before her and put his hands on her knees, gazing into her beautiful face. She raised her eyes to his and he saw how vulnerable she was, she had shared her body with him but this was more...this was her heart, her soul. He had no idea what to say; somehow 'I love you' didn't seem adequate. Sweet Dende, don't let me screw this up...  
  
He took her face in his hands and slowly drew her toward him his blue eyes glittering in the dim light as they locked with hers. He pulled her so far forward she had to rest her hands on his broad shoulders so she wouldn't fall off the bench on top of him as he brought her lips to his until they were barely touching.  
  
"I don't have the words to tell you what I'm feeling either Maro-chan...I only have this." He whispered against her lips and sliding one hand around to cup her head closed the hairsbreadth distance between them. He claimed her mouth with his in a soul-searing kiss his eyes slipping shut as he tried to convey his emotions to her in a non-verbal way. Marron's eyes widened as he deepened their kiss pulling her off the bench and into his arms as he fell back on the grass.  
  
Marron didn't even know what to think as Trunks held her tightly in his embrace and continued his gentle assault on her senses. He'd kissed her before but not like this...not in a way that felt as if he was trying to brand her very soul with his. The touch of his lips was both languid and intense at once. As if he had all the time in the world.  
  
She gasped for air when he finally broke their kiss. She tingled all over and felt like she had just been sent through the spin cycle as she looked at him with glazed eyes. He smiled back and touched her nose with his, arms still wrapped around her waist.  
  
"Damn, you're good at that." She muttered when she could get two brain cells to rub together enough to form words. He kissed the end of her nose.  
  
"Anything worth doing..." He said with a grin and kissed her again. She tried to get up off of him but he tightened his arms around her. "Nnh...I like you where you are."   
  
"But isn't the grass wet? And cold?" She asked and brushed his lavender bangs out of his eyes, even though it was a futile gesture since they fell right back.  
  
"I don't care." He said and kissed her neck. "Bet you didn't think you'd be doing this when you got up this morning did you?" He murmured against her neck.  
  
"Making out in the middle of the park at midnight? Nooo...I can't say that I did." She said chuckling. Trunks worked his way from her neck to her jaw spreading feather light kisses.  
  
"By the way...what are you doing lurking in the park in the middle of the night anyway?" Marron asked.   
  
"Waiting for you." He told her. "You were really, really good tonight Marron, you have a lot of talent...and you're cute with pink hair." She pulled back and looked at him in surprise as he grinned devilishly.  
  
"You knew it was me?" She asked. He stroked her face lightly with the backs of his fingers and nodded.  
  
"And you aren't angry I didn't tell you?" She asked worriedly.  
  
"Not angry...I wondered why until Yamucha explained everything to me. I understand now why you didn't...and your secret is safe with me until you decide otherwise. I'll support any decision you make."  
  
She poked him in the chest hard with her index finger.  
  
"Ow! What did you do that for?" He asked rubbing the offending spot.  
  
"Just checking to make sure you're for real." She said with a grin.   
  
"I'm very real...and very much yours."   
  
Trunks pulled her head down for another lingering kiss. When they parted he wore a thoughtful expression as he rested his forehead against hers.  
  
"You know, you were the first thing I saw when I woke up this morning, Maro-chan...I'd like you to be the last thing I see before I go to sleep." He told her softly.   
  
Marron understood that he was asking her to stay with him, she didn't know if he meant just tonight or always...but she didn't care. She'd take what she could get. She grinned at him and hopped up off of him tugging on his hands.  
  
"Better get going then...a bishounen like you needs his beauty sleep." She said with a wink.  



	13. Trunks' Roommate...How the HFIL?

  
The alarm clock went off all too soon for the purple haired demi-Saiyajin, he reached a hand out and crushed it to itty-bitty pieces before submerging back under the covers again and curling himself around Marron. She was warm and soft as he snuggled up against her. I could definitely get used to this, he thought purring in contentment.  
  
"Don't you have to go to work?" Marron mumbled the alarm having woken her up as well. He nuzzled his face in her hair.  
  
"Eventually." He admitted. He'd much rather stay right where he was...all day. Maybe he could call in sick. After all he was the president of the company...what could they do? Fire him?  
  
Marron reached behind her and grabbed all the covers and yanked them off of him. "Get up or you'll be late." She told him. He curled in a ball shivering as the room's chill hit his bare skin and tried to grab the covers back from her. She sat there with them wrapped around her and pointed sternly in the direction of the bathroom.  
  
"Up! Get showered and dressed and I MIGHT make you some breakfast." She told him. He gave her big pitiful eyes and tried to look cute - after all it usually worked for Goten - so she'd take pity on him and give him back the covers and cuddle. She wasn't buying it.  
  
"I don't want to get up and go to work...I want to stay here with you." He pouted scooting closer to her and cranking up the cute factor. She smirked at him evilly and leaned over, nibbling delicately on his earlobe and pointing out to him in sultry whispers what could be waiting for him when he came home from work that night, including but not limited to, food, her and perhaps a certain piece of lingerie that was purchased the day before. Marron clutched the covers as the backwash of air from his speedy departure into the bathroom blew her hair around like a tornado.  
  
It was all about proper motivation...that lesson Marron had learned from Juuhachi-gou well.  
  
Marron was dressed and leaning against the kitchen counter drinking her tea and studying the newspaper when Trunks emerged from the bedroom dressed and ready for work. He'd worn his favorite black suit today with a tastefully patterned dark blue tie and white shirt, he looked really good in it and he knew it. Trunks smirked inwardly when Marron gaped at him her mouth slightly open. He put the black-rimmed glasses he didn't need on his nose and looked at her smugly.  
  
"You said something about breakfast?" He asked her archly and sat down at the table. Marron nodded dumbly and placed a huge plate of eggs and potatoes - all she could find in his depleted refrigerator and pantry - in front of him. She watched him as he inhaled the food after taking precautions to protect his suit. Marron recovered from her open admiration of his good looks and sat next to him finishing her tea.  
  
"So what are you going to do all day?" Trunks asked her pushing his empty plate away and drinking his coffee. She rested her chin in her hand.  
  
"I have to find a job and a place to live ...not necessarily in that order." She told him. "Uncle Yamucha's leaving town this week so if I want to stay in the city and play with the band...or see you..." She said with a smile at him. "...I have to find a place, or move back to Kame House. I need a job so I can pay for it."  
  
"I thought you had a job?" He asked her thoughtfully sipping his coffee. Marron grinned at him, he looked handsome in that suit all right but he also looked very 'Dad' like.  
  
"The band does not pay enough for rent...that's for fun. But I have some leads, Harmon our drummer gave me the number of a studio that needs musicians for session work so I'm going to go check that out. Then I have to call my Tousan and tell him I'm going to stay..." She shuddered. "NOT looking forward to that conversation."  
  
Trunks set his empty coffee cup down and took her hand. "I have a great idea."   
  
"What's that?" She asked squeezing his hand before letting go and picking up his plate and coffee cup to wash.  
  
"Live here." He said simply. There was a near crash as the plate and cup slipped out of Marron's fingers and fell hard into the sink but didn't break. Trunks looked up at her where she stood in shock at the sink her back to him. He got up from the table and stood behind her wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder. "With me." He finished.  
  
"I'm sorry...I must not be hearing you correctly this morning because it sounded like you just said you wanted me to move in with you." She said with a nervous laugh, she must not be awake yet or maybe it was that killer cologne he was wearing that made her stomach turn to jelly and sent her mind right into the gutter. But either way her brain must not be working properly.  
  
He turned her around so she leaned against the counter and he rested his hands on either side of her trapping her there. He leaned forward and kissed her lightly, she'd never kissed him while he was in 'Mr. President' mode as she thought of it.  
  
"I did."  
  
"Awfully fast don't you think?" She asked him. He shrugged.  
  
"Not really...it's not like we've just met. I've known you forever." He said.  
  
"Well yeah...but you've only _ known_ me two times." She said with raised eyebrows and vague hand gestures. Trunks grinned wickedly. "'Sides everybody would have kittens if I moved in with you...as tempting as the offer may be." She said as he lowered his face to her neck. She pushed him back with a small scowl. "Dame da! This is important."  
  
He pushed the glasses back up his nose and brushed his bangs out of his eyes with a small sigh.  
  
"Look at it logically if you want to then Marron. You need a place to live; I have more room than I need. If you're so concerned about appearances take one...or more, of the bedrooms upstairs...I don't care. It's not like you'll spend much time in it if you do." He purred at her and tried to kiss her neck again.   
  
"Are you trying to seduce me into it?" She asked him arms folded across her chest. He grinned at her.  
  
"Is it working?"  
  
"No."   
  
Trunks sighed again and put his hands on her shoulders trying to be the voice of reason so she would see what to him was a no brainer.  
  
"Marron, you're my girlfriend...I care about what happens to you. I don't want you to end up in some sleazy dive of an apartment, or worse back at Kame House where I'll never get to see you. So I'm being selfish but I think you should live here. I don't care what everybody says...it's none of their business anyway, it's ours." He said in a voice that purred good sense.  
  
Marron looked into his blue eyes, made even bluer by the royal blue tie he wore and felt her resolve starting to slip. He was just so gorgeous and so...Trunks. How could she say no when being with him was what she wanted? She gave a low groan of defeat and looked away.  
  
"All right but I'm not your maid...I'm not doing your laundry or anything else like that. AND I'm paying you rent. I'm not looking for a handout." She grumbled.   
  
He gave her a huge hug and kissed her. Digging in a nearby drawer he handed her a key.  
  
"That's for the elevator. We can work out all the details later when I get home from work okay? I have to get going...I'm probably late for a meeting already." He said quickly and gave her a peck on the cheek before she could change her mind. "Do you have a way to get around besides walking?" He asked at the doorway.  
  
Marron still stood numb at the counter the key in her hand. She shook her head. He reached in his pocket for the capsule that held his car and tossed it to her.  
  
"Here...use my car. I'll fly in today." He said brightly and was gone. Marron looked from the key in one hand to the capsule in the other.  
  
"How in the HFIL did THAT just happen? Tousan's gonna skin me alive." She muttered to the empty apartment.  
  
***  
  
Juuhachi-gou sat in her beach chair under the window of Kame House and absently flipped through a magazine. She could care less about the magazines contents she was merely wasting time while she waited for the old man and that disgusting pig-thing to finish watching that insipid aerobics program they watched every day. And since Kuririn had taken the aircar to go to the grocery store she couldn't leave. Certainly she could fly away but the strange looks she always received didn't quite reaffirm the aura of normalcy she tried to convey.  
  
She heard the phone inside ring and the pig answered it, his nasal grating voice letting whoever was on the other end know he was none too happy about the interruption of one of his favorite viewing pastimes.  
  
The pitch of the pig things voice changed and Juuhachi-gou's interest was peaked as she heard him approach with the phone.  
  
"Yeah..yeah..she's right here. Yeah I miss you too kid. Augh! Don't call me Oolie!" Oolong yelled the last as he flung the phone in Juu's direction and ran back inside lest he miss one titillating leg lift or thrilling side bend.  
  
Juuhachi-gou put the phone to her ear and heard Marron's laughter at getting under Oolong's skin as always. Juu smiled a bit at the sound of her daughter's voice.  
  
"Musume? How are you?"   
  
"Okaasan! I'm so glad I got you I was hoping to talk to you alone." Marron said. Juuhachi-gou was mildly surprised, while she and her daughter were as close as could be expected it was normally Kuririn her daughter turned to.  
  
"What is it?" Juu asked getting to the point. Marron smiled on the other end, that was her Kaasan - cut right to the chase.  
  
"Well Kaasan I have some news and you and Tousan might not like it very much."   
  
Juu frowned a bit. "Is this about that article in the paper? About you and Vegeta's son?" Juu asked her.   
  
"Kind of." Marron started. Juu smiled.  
  
"Did he ask you?" Juuhachi-gou asked visions of a rich son-in-law filling her mind, her concern for her daughter's future over and she could spend whatever time Kuririn had left on Chikyuu without concern for their only offspring and far away from this semi-tropical HFIL-hole of perversion.  
  
"Ask me what?" Marron asked confused. Juu's vision was having a hiccup.  
  
"To marry him...he hasn't proposed?"   
  
"Good heaven's NO! For Dende's sake Kaasan! We've only gone out twice." Marron shrieked stretching the truth a bit. Juu was disappointed.  
  
"Then what is your news?"  
  
"I got a job here in the city and I want to stay on here when Yamucha leaves." She said simply, it did no good to embellish things with her mother she cut right through it anyway. "I've...a...found a place to live also, so um...I guess what I'm really asking for is..." Marron swallowed. "Will you help me tell Tousan?"  
  
Juu scowled at the phone, there had to be more to it if Marron was asking for her help with Kuririn. She knew her daughter was enough like her however that if she didn't want to tell wild tyrannosaurs couldn't drag it out of her until she was ready.  
  
"Chestnut, you are an adult now so it really doesn't matter what your father or I say." Juu said pragmatically. Marron snorted.  
  
"You and I both know what Tousan would say if I told him I wasn't coming back other than to get my stuff, Kaasan." Juuhachi-gou smiled into the phone.  
  
"My baby! My baby can't take care of herself! She's too young...blah blah." Juu said in a fairly good imitation of Kuririn. Marron laughed brightly on the other end. Juu's occasional imitation of Kuririn was a secret between she and her daughter that brought them closer.   
  
"Yep that sounds like what he'll say...so will you help me Kaasan? Please?" Marron asked. Juu sighed, Kuririn wouldn't like it but he'd have to learn to.  
  
"Very well musume...I will speak to your father." Juu said even as she saw the speck of the unsuspecting Kuririn approaching in the aircar. "Now back to you and Vegeta's son..."   
  
"Will you look at the time! Kaasan I have to go...have a million things to do today, new job and all." Marron said hurriedly. "Love to you and Tousan!" Marron chirped before she hung up.  
  
Juu was still holding the phone when Kuririn landed the aircar and got out. Juuhachi-gou went and helped him unload the car. Kuririn smiled warmly at her not mentioning the assistance as Juu usually didn't help with the mundane day-to-day chores.  
  
"Who called?" Kuririn finally asked as they were putting the groceries away in the kitchen. Oolong wandered in to get a soda and heard Kuririn's question and answered before Juuhachi-gou could say anything.  
  
"Marron...the kid's not coming home. She found a new job and a new pad and is blowing this pop stand." Oolong said with great enjoyment as he had been listening on the other extension.   
  
Juuhachi-gou stared death at the shape shifter she despised so much as Kuririn fell over in a dead faint. Oolong opened his drink and had a sip as he looked over Kuririn's twitching upended legs in a nonplussed fashion.  
  
"You have no tact." Juu said scathingly. Oolong shrugged and walked around the prone Kuririn and back to the living room.  
  
"Like you're one to talk blondie." Oolong snorted in a very pig like fashion.  
  
***  
  
AUTHORS NOTE: Hate to do it to ya but this is a to be continued for now...I'm reworking some of the later chapters before posting. If you've made it this far...thanks for reading! Reviews and Comments always welcome whether good or bad. Jaa ne for now minna!  



	14. Sleepless night

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Kinomi here...seems I had a brain fart a few Chapters ago in my credits...the name of the New Found Glory Song I used is "Boy Crazy"...my bad. That'll teach me to write authors notes at 2am, ne? Probably not...carry on minna.  
  
***  
  
Trunks woke up in the middle of the night sensing that something wasn't right. He focused his eyes on the ceiling and tried to put his finger on what was out of place. Instinctively he reached his hand over to put it on Marron and found she wasn't there. As his eyes adjusted to the light he saw she wasn't in the room at all and he sighed.  
  
She had been living with him for over a month now, a month that saw him being happier and happier every day as his feelings for her grew. On the other hand it had been a month of ever increasing stresses for Marron, Yamucha had left to go back home to the desert for a while and while Marron hadn't said much about it Trunks knew she missed him terribly. She had quickly gotten a lot of work in the recording studio as a session musician and had become one of the most requested musicians there. She had also sold a few songs to other artists, in addition to pressure from Shiro to spend more time songwriting for the band.  
  
Trunks didn't like the demands Shiro made on Marron one bit, he was always pressuring her for more commitment to the band, wanting her to spend less time with Trunks or doing studio work. Trunks actually liked when Marron worked in the studio, unless she got tapped for a night recording session. She was home when he got there after work and he could be with her. He hated the weekends though when she played with the band, she would come home so late and exhausted that even if he waited up for her she fell asleep in his arms in two minutes. Then rose to spend too few hours with him before taking off to play another gig.  
  
Trunks got up and slipped a pair of pajama bottoms on to go and look for her. He knew she hadn't been sleeping well the past few days and something was bothering her, but she hadn't told him exactly what it was. He finally found her on the roof of the building in her nightgown with her acoustic guitar. He approached from behind her silently, something about her posture stayed him as she played an intricate and complex piece of music; instead of strumming she was fingerpicking each note as her fingers flew over the fret board. He heard her make one mistake and then two before she set her guitar aside roughly; pulling her knees up to her chest as she dropped her head. Trunks could see her slender shoulders shaking and realized she was sobbing quietly.  
  
He closed the distance to her quickly and sat behind her wrapping his arms around her and resting his cheek on her back - just offering the comfort of his presence for the moment. Her sobs trailed off to sniffles finally and she leaned into him as he pulled her more fully into his lap.  
  
"I didn't wake you did I?" She asked quietly and her voice was oddly flat. Trunks held her against his bare chest, it was chilly up here and she only had a thin flannel nightgown on. He didn't want her to get sick from a chill so he raised his ki slightly to warm her as he kissed her temple.  
  
"No, I woke up and you were gone...I can't sleep anymore without my Maro-chan." He said with a smile. She didn't return it. "What's wrong?" He asked her gently. She looked away over the rooftops of the sleeping city, the fog creeping in around the buildings.  
  
"Nothing...everything." She said softly. Trunks kissed her head again.  
  
"You'll have to be more specific than that missy." He teased. She turned her cat like blue eyes to him, so like her mother's, her expression unreadable.   
  
"It's late Trunks...or should I say early? You should go back to bed...don't worry about me." She said with a sigh.  
  
"Not a chance. I want to know what's wrong."   
  
"Why?" She asked her eyes searching his. He brushed her loose hair away from her face tenderly.  
  
"Because I care...whatever is bothering you we can solve it if we work it out together." He told her. She looked down, so close. He always came so close to actually telling her he loved her but never quite did. The way he looked at her said that he did, the way he held her and the way he touched her gave her glimpses of how he felt for her but he never said it.   
  
"I have to record that song in the studio tomorrow so the singer can lay down the vocal track over it and I can't get it right...it's too hard. My fingers aren't fast enough." Marron said going with the least of her problems. He picked up her hand and kissed her fingertips.  
  
"You have very talented hands Maro-chan. When did you get it?" He asked...it had sounded good to him.  
  
"This afternoon." She said resting her head on his shoulder. He made a disgusted sound.  
  
"For Dende's sake Marron! They can't expect you to learn that in one day!"  
  
"They don't...I do. It's my job, and I'm good at it. I don't know why I can't get this one right...I can't seem to concentrate." She mumbled.  
  
"You're too hard on yourself Marron." He told her and gently rocked her in his arms. He had only lived with her a short time but he knew from his long friendship with her that if Marron was this bothered it was usually many something's and not just one thing. He also knew it could be like prying open a mussel to get it out of her. She was always so supportive of him when he had cruddy days, always greeting him with a kiss and a big dinner or leaving him be if that's what he needed. He wanted to do the same for her.  
  
"What else?" He asked her. She didn't say anything for so long he thought she wasn't going to.  
  
"Trunks...it's three in the morning. You should go back to bed. You have work in-" She started trying to change the subject. He turned her in his lap so she faced him.  
  
"I don't care...whatever is bothering you is more important. I can rearrange my schedule." She bit her lip and stared at the base of his throat, unable to look into his piercing blue eyes.   
  
Marron tried to think of a way to tell him, the best way to tell him of the suspicion she had. How could she be so careless? As if she didn't have enough secrets on her plate now: her father thought she worked in an office and was Paris' roommate, Trunks' family had no idea she lived with him. If they came over she made herself scarce, she never answered his phone. If she left now no one would really know she'd been other than a friend or a brief affair. Except that now I might be having his child, she thought.   
  
She wasn't sorry that she might be pregnant, although when her father and Vegeta found out she might damn well be, but this was a really horrible time for it to happen. How could she manage all the things in her life AND a child too? Would Trunks even want it?  
  
She glanced up at the sky...Dende, why do you hate me? She wondered. She looked back down into Trunks' face as he patiently waited for her to tell him what was on her mind. It would do no good to tell him her suspicion about her possible delicate condition until she knew for sure.  
  
"All these secrets and half truths...I feel like I don't even know what's real anymore." Marron said under her breath.  
  
"We're real Marron." Trunks murmured against her hair.   
  
"Are we? What makes it so when we hide our relationship from everyone?" Marron said miserably. "Am I real when I have to hide who I am from everyone but you and Uncle Yamucha?"  
  
Trunks began rocking her gently again to try and calm her down, he hated seeing her this upset. He knew as time passed that it got harder and harder for Marron to even think of telling her father her secrets. She was so afraid of letting him down. If only there was a way that Kuririn could see how talented his daughter was then there would be no way he could be disappointed in her.   
  
Trunks started to smile as a plan began to form in his mind. He would need a lot of help to pull it off and Marron was going to be plenty angry with him for it. He looked down at her resting against his chest and tilted her face up to his and kissed her his arms tightening around her as his eyes closed. He could lose her over this, and the thought disturbed him - but he would do anything to make her happy, as happy as she made him.  
  
"Everything will be fine Marron, I promise you." He whispered and gave her that cocky confident grin. Marron smiled weakly back wiping her tears away with the back of her hand.  
  
"Really?" She asked, her voice lacking confidence. Trunks leaned in and kissed her again, his blue eyes dancing in the starlight.  
  
"Do you trust me?" Marron looked at him closely.  
  
"The last time you asked me that you jumped off a building with me..." Marron said. Trunks got up and pulled her up with him. "But yes...I trust you Trunks."  
  
"Good." Trunks said and threw Marron over one hard muscled shoulder then picked up her guitar. "Because it's well past your bedtime missy." He said and started heading back downstairs. Marron reached for her guitar as she hung over Trunks' shoulder.  
  
"But Trunks! I need to practice...and I'm not ready to go to sleep yet." She argued. Trunks grinned devilishly and slid the hand that had been holding her in place across the backs of her thighs up to caress her backside.  
  
"Who ever said we were going to sleep?"  
  
  
***  
AUTHORS NOTE: Many thanks to those who read and review my fics...I appreciate all your words of encouragement and praise. This story may be on short hiatus while I work on "The Timeline Orphans" an (ultimately) AU story about Mirai Trunks and Marron. But I will be finishing up Marron's Choice soon as well. Questions, Comments and Suggestion all gladly taken...flames too.  
Ja ne minna!  



	15. Two phone calls

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I know, I know...I should be strung up and shot for how long it's taken me to write another chapter of this fic. Gomen nasai.  
  
***  
  
She'd decided she hated Fridays more than any other day of the week. It didn't used to be that way, she used to love Fridays, Fridays were the days when she was in college that Shiro was most likely to be able to scare up a chance for them to play a gig. And any opportunity to play had been the driving motivation in their lives as musicians. Nowadays Shiro ALWAYS had a gig for them, every weekend, without fail. Marron was teetering on the brink of burnout. Her whole life had become secrets and music - with little bits of Trunks thrown in for variety whenever they could get more than a few hours together at a stretch. If she wasn't rehearsing with the band or performing, she was at the studio. Sometimes both things in the same day, like today. Friday.   
  
She sighed and adjusted the headphones she wore as she waited for the technician to start the playback for the track she was laying. She hoped she could get it right in only a few takes - it was the piece she'd been practicing on the roof the other night - luckily she'd gotten a reprieve and hadn't had to record it the next day. Which was fortunate, considering Trunks had kept her up the rest of the night and she'd gone into work like a zombie. Not that she was complaining...well not *that* loudly anyway. She'd much rather be kept up all night making love with Trunks, than staring at the ceiling worrying like she did most nights lately. No contest.  
  
A knock on the glass of the recording booth brought her out of her reverie and she looked up to see Harmon, their drummer and her co-worker indicating she had a phone call. She pulled off her headphones and put her guitar down before slipping out of the booth. It must be important if Harmon was willing to interrupt a recording session...after all...time was money.  
  
"It's a Sally, from Dr. Yamada's office. You hadn't started recording yet so I thought you might want to take it." Harmon said, and handed her the phone. Not even noticing the way her breath caught as he walked away. Marron felt her stomach lurch.   
  
"This is Marron." She said into the receiver when she could get her voice back.   
  
"Hi Marron! This is Sally from Dr. Yamada's office. How are you doing today?" She chirped, far to happily for Marron's taste. Her hands shook as she held the phone.   
  
"Pretty crappy so far...we'll see how the rest of it turns out." Marron muttered. The nurse didn't even seem to notice.  
  
"That's good. I have the results of your pregnancy test back, and the doctor has reviewed it." Sally said. Marron's knuckles were white as she gripped the phone hard enough to make the plastic creak. She bared her teeth at the wall. If this woman didn't hurry up and tell her what she wanted to know she was going to reach through the phone and throttle her.  
  
"And?" Marron growled through gritted teeth.  
  
"The test came back positive. Congratulations! You're pregnant. The doctor estimates approximately five weeks, but won't know for certain until he can do an ultrasound in a few more weeks." Sally told her. Marron's head reeled. Pregnant. She'd been sure she was, she'd had a feeling. But to hear it confirmed out loud was a little overwhelming. And five weeks! That meant she must have gotten pregnant practically the first time they had slept together. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry...or both. She barely heard the nurse as she told Marron that the doctor would want to see her for her first prenatal visit and she made an appointment for herself without even registering she'd done it.   
  
She hung up the phone and slid down the wall, sitting on the floor in the studio hallway with her head in her hands. What was she going to do? And how was she going to tell Trunks?  
  
"Good news or bad news?" She heard Harmon say. She looked up at him standing next to her offering her a can of ginger ale. He looked so fierce and threatening most of the time with his shaved head and scowling countenance, but now he merely looked concerned. She shook her head absently.  
  
"Just...news." She said quietly. Harmon sat down next to her still offering her the drink.   
  
"You should drink it...it'll help settle your stomach." Harmon told her. She heard the tendons in her neck creak as she turned her head and looked at him. She took the soda can from him...how did he know her stomach was queasy?   
  
"How...?" She started. Harmon gave her a crooked grin that transformed him into a baby-faced teddy bear. A two hundred and fifty pound baby faced teddy bear with tattoos.  
  
"I have four kids of my own remember? I know pregnant when I see it, trust me. Besides, my wife goes to Yamada. He's a good doctor." Harmon told her. Marron nodded. It was easy to forget that Harmon had a whole other life away from the band and studio. He was such a private guy; Marron didn't even know his wife's name. She opened the ginger ale and sipped it. Harmon was right; it soothed her stomach right away.  
  
"What am I going to do?" She whispered, half to herself and the soda can. Harmon patted her on the knee and stood up.  
  
"That's for you and your man to decide. But I know what you're not doing...and that's recording right now. I'll reschedule your sessions for today. Go home and get some rest. You look like hell."   
  
"But what about the gig tonight?" She asked. Harmon waved a hand at her dismissively.  
  
"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of it." He said. Marron looked panicked.  
  
"Harmon please! Don't tell Shiro about this...you know how he gets." Marron pleaded. Harmon grinned and picked up the phone. Marron watched him curiously as he dialed. Giving Marron a thumbs up.  
  
"Shiro? Harmon here. Hey man, I have some bad news. I was moving some equipment here at work today and I hyper extended my elbow. Thanks man, yeah it hurts like a bitch. I don't think I'm gonna be able to play tonight though, probably not tomorrow either. Yeah, I know. Well I'm bummed too man, but what can you do? If I make it worse I won't be able to do my job and feed my family. Uh huh... You'll call and cancel? That's great. I'll let Marron know since she's recording today. I appreciate it... I will, I've got it on ice right now. Yeah man, you take care too. Later." Harmon said and hung up the phone.  
  
"Problem solved. I just got you the weekend off. Go home and take care of things, rest, and get some perspective." Harmon said, offering his hand to help her up. She gave him a grateful smile.  
  
"Thanks Harmon, I really appreciate you doing this for me." Harmon gave her a grin and a hug, patting her on the back. His gesture of kindness making her, the slave to her hormones that she was, tear up. Harmon rolled his eyes at her when he let her go, as she wiped hers with the back of her hand. "Sorry..." She said with a rueful smile.  
  
"Crying emotional pregnant women...that takes me back." He joked as he started shooing her toward the exit. "And I'm confiscating your guitar until Monday too young lady, you need a break. Now get out of here before I throw you out." He said fondly.  
  
***  
  
"You did WHAT?"  
  
Trunks held the receiver of the phone away from his ear at the outraged tone of the man on the other end. He scowled faintly. He'd thought his idea was a damn good one.  
  
"I set it up so that Marron's band will play at the company party next month. Why? What's wrong with that?" Trunks asked. Yamucha sighed on the other end of the line.  
  
"Not that part. What you said before." The older man said patiently, rubbing the bridge of his nose. On his end, Trunks leaned back in his desk chair and idly walked a pen end over end between his fingers from index to pinky and back again.   
  
"I've invited everyone to the company party, you should get your invitation any day." Trunks told him matter of factly, as the pen continued its endless cycle up and down his hand. He looked out his office window at the lovely sky, wishing he could just take off into it. Go to the studio, grab Marron and the two of them could just disappear for a while and be together...no band, no Capsule Corporation, no responsibilities...just the two of them alone. Trunks sighed. Maybe one day they would - if she ever forgave him for this that is.   
  
"I hope you know what you're doing Trunks...betraying her trust like this." Yamucha was saying in his ear. Trunks took the glasses he didn't need to wear off and tossed them on the desktop along with the pen as he leaned forward.  
  
"I'm doing this for HER, Yamucha. You haven't seen her, she's not sleeping, she's barely eating... These secrets are eating her up inside. I can't stand to see her like this. I'd rather she hate me and never forgive me than see her suffer any longer." Trunks said urgently. He didn't need to tell the other man that seeing Marron so stressed and unhappy was tearing him apart too. Ever since he'd found her on the roof in the middle of the night earlier in the week he'd been watching her more closely. She seemed almost as if she was making herself sick.  
  
"I don't doubt that your intentions are good Trunks. But to go behind her back...I just can't condone it, even if I understand it." Yamucha said, sighing heavily. "I think you're making a mistake."  
  
"Well, it's my mistake to make." Trunks said a little stiffly. His tone didn't slip past Yamucha however.  
  
"You're playing with her life too Trunks, remember that." Yamucha said quietly. Trunks blew upwards into his bangs. The older man had a point. But all Trunks could think of was Marron, sobbing on the roof in her nightgown, asking him if what they had was real. It had to be. He'd never felt about anyone the way he did about Marron - her unhappiness caused him pain. This has to be love, he thought. It can't be anything else.  
  
"I just don't know what else to do for her Yamucha. To make her happy." Trunks admitted finally. Yamucha smirked a bit to himself, Trunks was just as hopeless now as he'd always been. But he was Marron's hearts desire, therefore...  
  
"You love her?" He asked. Trunks didn't even hesitate.  
  
"More than anything. I told you that." He replied.   
  
"Yes, but does *she* know that?" Yamucha asked him. Trunks frowned and opened his mouth to answer and then shut it with a snap as he wondered: Did Marron know? Had he said it out loud to her ever? Yamucha chuckled softly on the other end at Trunks' silence. He knew from his phone conversations with Marron he hadn't. He shook his head sadly, he was too old to play cupid for these two...but he would. "I'll take that as a no." He told the younger man.  
  
"I'm thinking!" Trunks said defensively.  
  
"The only advice I can give you Trunks is this: If you love her, tell her."  
  
Before Trunks could respond his secretary beeped him on the intercom, telling him he had another call. Putting Yamucha on hold for a minute he answered.  
  
"It's me. I just wanted to let you know that I was home...I uh, wasn't feeling well so Harmon rescheduled my sessions for today." Marron said.  
  
"You okay?" He asked, concerned. Marron was quiet on her end a moment.  
  
"I just have a headache. I'm going to lie down for a while. Oh, before I forget, the gigs this weekend have been cancelled so I have the whole thing off." She told him. Trunks felt a huge grin spread across his face. This would be perfect...a weekend alone with Marron. Maybe his dream of taking off with her to be alone could come true after all.  
  
"That's the best news I've heard all week." Trunks grinned, and let her go to get some rest. He reconnected with Yamucha on the other line.   
  
"A perfect opportunity has just presented itself for me to prove to Marron how I feel about her, so I have to run. I have shopping to do and arrangements to make. Thanks for the advice and I'll see you at the party next month." Trunks said quickly. On his end, Yamucha was getting a bad feeling. Trunks' batting average with plans wasn't great. Dende only knew what he had up his sleeve for Marron.  
  
"What opportunity? Trunks! What are you planning?" Yamucha asked him. Trunks' mind was already on what he would need to do to show Marron that she was the girl of his dreams. If he swept her off her feet there would be no way she would be able to stay angry at him for booking the band for the company party without asking her first. If she knew he did it because he loved her, then everything would be okay - he just knew it. And what better way to show his intentions? The concept had a kind of thrilling appeal to it once he'd gotten his mind over the initial shock. It was like something clicked in him, and he knew it was the right decision as he pushed his paperwork around on his desk clearing it up to finish on Monday. He almost forgot the phone in his hand as he smiled, imagining Marron's face when he surprised her.  
  
"Trunks!" Yamucha said in his ear again, pulling him out of his musing. "What are you going to do?" Yamucha asked him warily.  
  
"Marry her of course." Trunks told him, and with a quick goodbye hung up to rearrange his afternoons schedule. He had a lot to do: buy an engagement ring, make dinner reservations, and get flowers... This would be a weekend they would remember forever, he thought with a smile as he called for his secretary.  
  
Yamucha stared at the dead receiver in his hand. Trunks was going to propose...and Trunks had gone behind her back to expose her secret to her folks. He scowled. What was the younger man thinking? That one would cancel the other out? And what about Marron's career? Would Trunks just sit idly by and let his wife become a rock star and tour the world while he ran Capsule Corporation? Somehow Yamucha doubted it. He replaced the receiver with a heavy sigh.  
  
"Puar!" He called. The little blue cat floated in from the other room with a curious expression at the urgency she heard in her human's voice.  
  
"What is it Yamucha? What's wrong?" She asked.   
  
"Pack the car...we're going back to the city." He told her. She cocked her head at him.  
  
"Why Yamucha? Is Marron in trouble?" She asked concerned. Yamucha nodded sagely.  
  
"She might be Puar...either way I have a feeling she's going to need us."  
  
***  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Okay. I promise, promise, promise to update this story much sooner than I did this last time. I am working on four stories right now so I am going to be rotating through them. Your patience, as well as your reviews and comments are always appreciated.  
  
Jaa ne minna! 


	16. Implementing the plan

***  
  
It was dark when Marron woke from her nap. She didn't know how long she'd been asleep - at least all afternoon by the looks of it - since she could see the night sky out the window wall of the bedroom. She felt infinitely better now that she'd rested, even though as she'd lain there earlier pondering what she should do, she thought she'd never fall asleep. She rolled on her back as she slowly woke up and her eyes adjusted to the dark bedroom. She smelled roses strongly and frowned slightly, wondering vaguely if her bottle of perfume had spilled.  
  
"My Sleeping Beauty is awake."   
  
Marron looked over toward the door and saw Trunks silhouetted there from the light of the hall. She stretched a little and smiled at him.  
  
"Hey... You're home." She said sleepily, as Trunks came over and sat beside her on the bed. She couldn't see his face in the dark, but had a feeling he was smiling at her as he smoothed her hair away from her brow and leaned over to kiss her gently.  
  
"Feeling better?" He murmured. She nodded, still smiling as he stroked her hair.  
  
"Much. I think the nap helped. What time is it?"   
  
"After six." Trunks told her. Marron's eyes opened wide. She'd slept the day away! She started to get up.  
  
"It's late! I have to start your dinner." Marron said. Trunks put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back down gently.  
  
"Nothing doing. I made dinner reservations...if you're feeling up to going out." Trunks told her, turning and lighting several candles on the bedside table. She looked up at him; he was still in his business suit, his glasses reflecting the candlelight as he smiled at her.  
  
"You made reservations? Really?" She asked in surprise. With the schedules they kept and her playing in the band, other than that first night they had gone out when Trunks got drunk, they hadn't been out since. Trunks leaned over her with a crooked grin.  
  
"Don't sound so surprised. I've been meaning to take you out special like I promised for quite a while. And since you have the whole weekend off I thought it would be the perfect way to start off us spending some time together...alone." He murmured, his lips near hers. Marron blushed slightly and wrapped her arms around his neck.  
  
"Mmmmm...sounds wonderful. Where are we going?" She asked. Trunks kissed her softly before answering.  
  
"Chez Victoria's." Marron's eyes widened. That was the trendiest, most expensive restaurant in the city. It was nearly impossible to get a reservation; they had to be placed weeks in advance.  
  
"You're kidding right? That place is so fancy...I-I don't have anything to wear! The dress you got me for last time isn't back from the cleaners yet Trunks." She told him. Trunks just smiled and got up, pulling Marron up with him. When she stood before him he began to undress her.  
  
"Don't worry about it...its been taken care of." He told her, and taking her hand led her to the bathroom. Candles of all sizes, shapes and colors were scattered around the bathroom and tub, casting a warm golden light. Trunks put his hand in the filled tub and as she watched it began to glow. Moments later steam rose from the heated water.  
  
"Neat trick." Marron said quietly. Trunks looked at her over his shoulder and wiggled his eyebrows at her, and she giggled in response. Straightening he scattered a handful of rose petals into the water and turned to her holding his hand out.  
  
"In you go." Trunks handed her into the tub and she settled into the hot water, after coiling her hair on her head. The temperature was perfect; hot enough to relax her but not too hot. In addition to the rose petals, Marron noticed he'd put some rose oil in the bath by the sheen on the water. Trunks placed a folded towel on the edge of the tub behind her neck, urging her to lie back and relax. She closed her eyes, a trace of a smile on her lips. She didn't know what she'd done to warrant such special treatment, but she wasn't about to complain.  
  
Trunks took off his suit jacket and rolled up his shirtsleeves as she sat in the tub, eyes closed. He watched her a moment. She was so beautiful to him she didn't seem real. *I'm going to marry this girl* He thought, and felt the same thrilling rush of emotion as when he'd made his decision earlier. He went over to the tub and knelt beside it, picking up a large sponge. Marron's eyes opened in surprise as Trunks took the sponge and began to gently wash her, still wearing his tie and glasses.   
  
"You're spoiling me again." She purred in delight as he scrubbed her back with the sponge. Trunks chuckled at her, squeezing warm water from the sponge to run down her back before leaning over and kissing her wet shoulder.  
  
"That's still my plan." He joked. She looked at him from the corner of her eye. Wondering just what he was up to. While it was like Trunks to do something romantic like the candles, it wasn't like Trunks to draw a bath for her and not currently be in it *with* her, wanting her to scrub his back. Still, she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth and decided to just go along with whatever he had planned. Maybe if he was in a good enough mood later she could broach the subject of her delicate condition. The thought sobered her and she pushed it away stubbornly - she wasn't going to spoil Trunks' plans by being worried.  
  
When she was clean, Trunks held open a fluffy towel for her as she stepped from the tub, enfolding her in it and his arms. She tipped her face up to his and he gave her a deep lingering kiss.  
  
"So what's the special occasion?" She asked softly. He grinned and rubbed her nose with his.  
  
"Do I need an occasion to take my beautiful girlfriend out? Isn't us finally having a weekend alone together more than reason enough?" He teased. Marron chuckled in agreement.  
  
"Good point." She said, and then looked sly as she wound her arms around his waist loosely. "You know...we don't HAVE to go out if you don't want to..." She suggested with a slow smile.  
  
"Tempting, but I really wanted to take you out - like I promised you I would. Tomorrow on the other hand, I was thinking we could..." And put his lips against her ear to finish the thought in a low whisper. She shivered and her belly flip-flopped wildly. "...All day." He added.  
  
"Sounds good to me." She squeaked, blushing. "Just remember to lock the balcony door." Trunks laughed quietly and pulled her closer for a moment as he dried her tenderly with the towel.  
  
"I'll be right back." He said with a kiss to her nose. Marron raised an eyebrow as he slipped away and wrapped the towel around her. He was back a moment later with a large silver box tied with a blue velvet bow.  
  
"So what's this?" She asked curiously, taking the box and looking at Trunks questioningly.  
  
"You'll see...I'll let you get ready. Our reservations are whenever we get there so take your time. No rush." He told her and left the bathroom, closing the door behind him. Whatever time they got there? At Chez Victoria's? She thought. She must have heard him incorrectly and quickly moved to get herself ready setting the box aside for the moment. She opened the box while she waited for her curlers to set, and caught her breath at what she found inside.  
  
The color struck her first, a deep rich red - her favorite. She lifted the dress out of the box and discovered it came in two parts. The under part was a silk slip dress with thin straps in a deep shimmery gold, the over portion was long sleeved red velvet and almost reminded Marron of a fitted coat with the way it hooked in the front, but was split the entire way down allowing the gold silk to peep through the deep V of the neckline. The bodice, hem and cuffs of the velvet dress were embroidered with gold in a pattern of leaves and dragonflies and beaded with red and black crystal beads that caught the light. She couldn't wait to try it on.  
  
She pulled the curlers from her hair and was satisfied with the way it fell in soft loose waves that tumbled over her shoulders and decided to leave it down. Only pulling the top part back, and catching it in the jeweled dragonfly clip she found in the box as well, leaving a few tendrils to frame her heart shaped face. She perused her reflection momentarily, as she stood clad in the gold silk portion of the dress. The gold was deeper than her hair, but it still made her look like she had been dipped in gold from head to toe. Remembering what Yamucha had taught her, she applied slightly more dramatic makeup, finishing with a deep red smudge-proof lipstick that complimented the velvet dress and gave her some color. She hooked the fitted velvet overdress closed and was pleasantly surprised to find it fit her like it had been made for her. She peeked in the box the dress had come in to see if she had missed anything and found a velvet box among the tissue. Inside she found an antique gold necklace of a dragonfly with ruby eyes and a fat teardrop pearl hanging from its tail. She put it, and the matching ruby stud earrings, on and looked at herself in the mirror again. The necklace was truly the finishing touch - who knew Trunks had such a good eye?  
  
She found the bedroom dark and empty when she left the bathroom, the light from the hallway the only illumination. She'd half expected to find Trunks waiting for her. Her toe brushed something and when she looked down she saw a rose lying on the floor, when she bent and picked it up she saw another near the door. A smile curled her lips as she moved to collect the second. A trail of roses led down the hall to the silent living room and Marron gathered them all, watching the floor and admiring the way the gold silk peeped from the split of the velvet overdress as she walked, until she had half a dozen flowers in her hand. The living room was dark as well, only lit by one thick candle the way Trunks liked the room, letting the lights of the city take the focus.  
  
As she bent to gather the last rose she saw Trunks' feet before her and straightened up slowly, her eyes drinking him in. She could see Trunks in his tuxedo a million times and he would still take her breath away every single one. He was perfect as he stood before her, his arms filled with the other six roses plus a dozen more. His piercing blue eyes held hers and she had to remind herself to breathe as he looked at her intensely. She could feel the flush starting on her neck like it always did when Trunks stared at her like that.  
  
Trunks looked her over slowly, from her bare toes peeping out from the hem of her dress up over her to her face. Her blush colored her cheeks prettily. He had been on his way to the jewelers that afternoon when the dress in a boutique window had caught his eye and made him pause. As he'd looked through the window at the deep red color and the shimmery gold, he'd imagined Marron in it and just knew he had to buy it for her. But his imagination of how she'd look in it couldn't begin to compare to the reality of her.   
  
"I didn't think it was possible." He said, and placed the roses in her arms so he could cradle her face tenderly in his palms. She looked up at him, her eyes like aquamarine crystal framed by smoky eyelashes.  
  
"What?" She murmured.  
  
"That you could get any more beautiful, Marron." He told her. She put one hand on her heart as her eyes slipped shut. She was melting.  
  
"Aa." She sighed smiling. Trunks leaned down and kissed her, his lavender bangs brushing her forehead silkily.  
  
"C'mon...let's put those in some water and go...before I change my mind about going out." He told her with a wicked smile, and a gentle kiss to her forehead.  
  
  
***  
  
Trunks sat in the back of the darkened limo with one arm around Marron, and the other in his jacket pocket, turning the small velvet box that held her ring over and over in his hand. He hoped she liked his choice. It had been an easy decision for him to make at the jewelers. He'd scanned the selection of rings, his eyes passing over the (to him) many gaudy and ostentatious styles until in the last case he'd seen it. A beautiful princess cut diamond set in a platinum band with smaller trillion cut diamonds flanking it. It was perfect, worthy of the wife of the President of Capsule Corporation. It reminded him of Marron...clean lined and elegant. He just hoped she thought so too, as he reviewed his plans for the evening and their weekend and smiled. He couldn't wait to see her face when he gave it to her.  
  
Curled against his side, Marron was lost in her own thoughts as well. Trunks was being so sweet and romantic, to buy her a beautiful dress, to take her to a fancy restaurant in a limo... And she could spoil the whole thing with her news, how would Trunks react? Should she not tell him? Was that any more fair to take advantage of his generosity and then spring it on him later? 'Oh by the way...I'm pregnant.' She bit her lip uncertain what to do. There was no question that she HAD to tell him. The question was when.   
  
"We're here." Trunks said as they pulled up in front of the restaurant.   
  
Besides being the most popular, and arguably the best restaurant in West Capitol, Chez Victoria's could also boast the best view. The restaurant was situated on the top floor of West Capitol's largest tower dome building. Normally, since it was Friday night the lobby of the building would be filled with people waiting for their tables, or hoping for a cancellation so they could board the glass elevator to the restaurant. But tonight there was no one, the lobby eerily vacant except for the hostess, a pretty brunette, who looked star struck and a little flustered when Trunks favored her with a dazzling smile.  
  
"Briefs, Party of two. I believe we have a reservation." Trunks said, and Marron looked at him curiously, noting the barely repressed laughter in his voice.  
  
"Oh yes Mr. Briefs. We've been expecting you. Please, go right on up." The hostess told him, her cheeks flushing scarlet. Trunks favored her with another smile as he gave her a tip.  
  
"I trust everything is in order?" He asked quietly so Marron wouldn't overhear. The brunette nodded vigorously.  
  
"Yes Sir." She said breathlessly, taking the proffered zenni from him. " We have everything that you asked for."  
  
"Good. And if anyone asks you never saw us." Trunks told her, and with a smile of thanks and a little wink, turned back to Marron and led her to the elevator. The hostess watched them go with a little sigh. How romantic. She wondered if Mr. Briefs' girlfriend knew how lucky she was. She bit her lip in hesitation. She was dying to call her best friend and tell her she just saw Trunks Briefs, she'd be so jealous. She knew Mr. Briefs didn't want anyone to know he was here... and her manager had told her under no uncertain terms was anyone to know what was happening upstairs at Chez Victoria's tonight. She really didn't want to lose her job, but the temptation was just too great. She called her two best friends and after extracting promises from them to not tell a soul - confided in them that Trunks Briefs was going to propose to his girlfriend that night - and wasn't it the most romantic thing ever? Predictably, those two friends kept the secret for less than ten minutes before they told their friends; unfortunately one of those friends was the daughter of a reporter. The one who broke the story of Trunks and Marron's relationship in the first place...he of the dead caterpillar moustache.  
  
Trunks and Marron had probably barely finished the first course of their dinner by the time the reporters were gathering outside the building, trying to bribe their way up to the restaurant.  
  
***  
  
"So what was that all about?" Marron asked, hanging on to Trunks' arm and focusing intently on the top button of his mandarin collared shirt so she wouldn't have to look out the glass elevator as they ascended to the restaurant. She didn't need to get queasy now. Trunks smiled at her and slipped his arm around her waist drawing her closer.  
  
"You'll see."   
  
When they arrived at the restaurant level it looked closed. There was no one there, and all the tables were empty. The dining tables were situated in rows in the round room on different levels so there were no bad tables. Every table had an exquisite view of the cityscape, with the highest level in the restaurant reserved for dancing.  
  
"It looks closed." Marron whispered. Trunks leaned his head toward hers and took her hand.  
  
"It is...to everyone but us." He replied in the same hushed tones. He led her to the far side of the restaurant where one booth that overlooked the room and the city was set and waiting for them. Trunks had specifically requested they set a booth for them, rather than a table. He wanted to sit beside Marron and have her close to him. An opened bottle of wine sat at the ready as well. Trunks handed her into the booth and then slipped in next to her, unable to take his eyes off of her. The candles cast a warm glow that highlighted her face; she had never looked more beautiful to him. She seemed to glow, like she was lit from within.  
  
"How long have you been planning this Trunks?" Marron asked incredulously as waiters appeared, seeming from nowhere in the darkened restaurant bringing them plates of delicate appetizers then withdrawing again. From somewhere in the darkened reaches of the restaurant a violin began playing softly. Trunks poured them glasses of Pinot Noir before answering.  
  
"Just today." He told her, handing her the glass of red wine. Marron smiled at him, turning the glass in her fingers.  
  
"You did all this? Arranged dinner, bought me a dress, Limo, flowers, all in one afternoon?" Trunks gave her a secret little smile.  
  
"Among other things...yes." He said warmly, and touched the rim of his glass to hers in a little toast. "Here's to us finally having some time alone, just the two of us." Marron's smile widened, and she dipped her head in assent.  
  
"I'll drink to that." She agreed, laughter in her voice. She took only the tiniest sip of the wine, no more than a taste before putting her glass down. It was exceptional wine, and normally she would have enjoyed having more, but now that she was pregnant... "You've been a busy fellow Mr. Briefs. Did you get any of your work done today?" She teased him. Trunks looked slightly chagrined.  
  
"Not as much as I should have." He admitted.  
  
"Your mother will be displeased. Sneaking off from work, and these big expenses... How ever are you going to explain it?" She asked him. She had cause for concern. Not much went on at Capsule Corporation that Bulma didn't know about - even though Trunks was president. This dinner, her dress...neither of those items could have been cheap. Especially to rent this entire restaurant on a Friday night, at the last minute, and with the way Trunks ate...it boggled her mind. Not to mention his mother wondering WHY he'd have incurred these expenses, since his family didn't know about them. True, Trunks' family was one of the richest in the world - if not THE richest - but you didn't stay that way by throwing money away frivolously. And in some ways it seemed frivolous to Marron. She certainly appreciated and was deeply touched by the romantic lengths Trunks was going to for her, but she would certainly have been as equally delighted with staying home for pizza, beer and a movie.   
  
"Don't worry about my mother. She won't even notice." Trunks said reassuringly. Finishing the sentence in his mind with: She'll be too ecstatic I'm finally engaged. Marron looked at him dubiously, cocking her head to the side. Bulma not notice something like this? It seemed unlikely. Trunks took her hand and raised it to his lips, brushing them over the back of her fingers lightly as he held her eyes. Again Marron felt the heat rise to her face and wondered if it would always be so. Would being caught in Trunks' intense gaze always make her feel like she was on a roller coaster? Her belly flip flopped, and then lurched slightly. She closed her eyes tightly until the queasiness passed.  
  
"You okay?" Trunks asked her, still holding her hand. She nodded before opening her eyes and looking into Trunks' concerned ones. She gave him what she hoped was an encouraging smile.  
  
"Fine. I'm just a little...hungry." She said. Trunks picked up one of the appetizers, a little puff pastry thing and with a small smile brought it to her lips and fed it to her. She blushed prettily again as she surreptitiously licked a crumb from the corner of her mouth. Trunks leaned toward her and kissed her, sliding his fingers into her hair to rest his hand on the back of her neck.  
  
"You're delicious." Trunks whispered against her lips and smiled. "You make me hungry for more." Embarrassed, Marron looked around to see if any of the restaurant staff was watching or could overhear them. Trunks took her chin in his hand and turned her face back toward his. "No one is watching, no one cares. This is our night Marron...we're the only two people in the world." Trunks said softly, and brought his lips to hers again, savoring her.  
  
"This can't all be just because I got the weekend off Trunks. What gives?" Marron asked. She didn't want to break the spell, but her blood thrummed through her veins in anticipation and anxiety. Her pulse was a voice in her own ear, saying tell him...tell him, over and over. It would only be worse the longer she waited to tell him about the baby. The strains of the violin music jangled her nerves slightly and she bit her lip. How to bring it up? Trunks chuckled throatily.  
  
"That's my ever practical Maro-chan." Trunks said velvetly, sliding his arm around her and drawing her closer to his side. "I wanted to wait until later...at least until dessert but..." Trunks said smiling.   
  
"Wait for what?" Marron asked. Her nervousness making her feel disconnected from herself as she looked at Trunks without really seeing him. He reached out and cupped her face in his hand as he gazed at her tenderly.  
  
"No...I've made you wait too long already." Trunks murmured, lightly stroking her cheekbone with his thumb. Marron frowned at him confused, her mind a whirl.  
  
"For what?" She repeated.  
  
"For something I should have said to you long before now. Something I should have said to you in the park that night, the night you sang that beautiful song for me. I didn't have the words then, and I really don't have them now either, but I'll give it a shot." Trunks blushed slightly as he was caught in Marron's direct gaze. She was watching him sharply, her face puzzled as she tried to follow him. He felt a crooked grin tug the corners of his mouth. Leave it to him to blunder even this - the most important moment of their lives. He took a breath to calm himself. He could handle this; just try not to think of the pressure, that he wanted this moment to be perfect. He pulled her face to his a moment and kissed her hard, for luck, for the courage to get it all out. She waited patiently, her lips parted.  
  
"Marron, since you came into my life again you have made me the happiest man in West Capitol, no...the world. Every day with you is better than the one before it. You make me a better man." He said earnestly, and groaned inwardly. He was dancing around it, and badly - but what if she didn't feel the same? What if he bared his soul to her and she laughed at him? He didn't think she would, Marron wasn't that kind of person - but it was a big risk. He'd never told any woman before that he loved them because he hadn't, but she was different. He forged on ahead. "I've never felt with anyone the way I feel when I'm with you Maro-chan, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me - the most important thing in my life...and...a-and..." He trailed off, his courage evaporating. He was so much more in command of any situation when it didn't involve him talking about his feelings. He put his hand in the pocket of his jacket, curling his fist around the delicate velvet box, as his eyes lowered and he stared at her necklace. Her slender throat working as she swallowed.  
  
"Yes Trunks?" She said, her voice tremulous. He raised his eyes to hers and saw she was trembling, like a high-tension wire, she seemed to vibrate with barely suppressed emotion, and it gave him the courage he needed as he stared into her bright eyes, shining in the candlelight. It was right...he knew it. There was nothing to be afraid of. He pulled his hand out of his pocket bringing her ring with it. He took her hand and pressed the small velvet box into it, holding her hand in both of his.  
  
"I love you Marron, you are the shining light in my life. And nothing would make me happier than if you'll be my wife." He said, breathing a silent sigh of relief that he got it all out in the open, letting go of her hand to let her look in the little box as he opened it. The candlelight caught the facets of the diamonds making them sparkle with a mysterious fire. Marron's mouth dropped open as she looked from the diamond to Trunks' well-loved face.  
  
Her mind reeled. The words she'd dreamed of hearing since she was thirteen years old had finally come out of his mouth. She opened and closed hers several times as she tried to get her brain around it. He loved her - he wanted to marry her...   
  
"Trunks...I-I" She started, and looked at him as he smiled at her. Patiently awaiting her answer. How could she accept his proposal without telling him about the baby first? She felt tears come to her eyes, the happiest moment of her life and she could ruin the whole thing with two words: I'm pregnant. "I-I have some...thing..." She started lamely, but before she could answer a commotion near their table made them snap their heads around.   
  
A million suns went nova in Marron's vision and her eyes, dilated from the darkness of the restaurant, constricted painfully against the blinding glare of several photographer's flashes as their picture was taken: Marron sitting nearly in Trunks' embrace, holding the opened velvet box - the diamond clearly visible within, the photographers were having a field day.  
  
This was front-page news. 


	17. Modification of said plan

Author's Note: Before I forget - I was remiss in thanking my good friend and net sister Mirai Marron for helping me with Chapter Sixteen. All the great romantic stuff (roses, fancy dinner etc.) was all her idea baby...I'm about as romantic as a stick. :P Thanks again Marron!  
  
***  
  
The quiet romantic mood of Chez Victoria's was destroyed in a single moment. As three photographers crept toward the table where Trunks Briefs sat with his beautiful blonde girlfriend. It seemed they were just in time too as Trunks opened the small velvet box for her and smiled at her dazed expression. They pounced, capturing the moment for several hundred thousand readers as Trunks and Marron's heads snapped up in surprise.  
  
"WHAT THE FUCKING HELL...?" Trunks roared, as the photographers kept taking their pictures and the one lone reporter who managed to bribe his way onto the elevator with the photographers started shouting his own questions. Already envisioning his name on the front-page by-line of this scoop, maybe he'd get a raise and a promotion to more meaty assignments. This was the best thing that had ever happened to him. The reporter was quickly changing his mind however, as he found himself faced with the now enraged President of Capsule Corporation.   
  
Pandemonium reigned as the photographers and journalist all broke and ran for the elevator as Trunks slipped out of the booth and began walking toward them slowly, the expression on his face the cause of their panic. It promised pain, in quantities, and soon. He'd never really actually hurt one of them, despite being sorely tempted for this latest invasion of his privacy, but he wasn't above putting the fear of Kami into them. They crowded their way onto the elevator, frantically pushing the down button as Trunks approached grinning horribly that his quarry was cornered.  
  
"This is a private party. You're not invited." Trunks purred nastily at them as he stood just beyond the elevator doors. "And if you don't get lost, I'll sue you for invasion of privacy." He told them and folded his arms across his muscular chest; he had his foot blocking the elevator door sensor so the doors wouldn't close, despite the desperate pressing of the elevator controls by one of the photographers. The journalist, feeling safer toward the back of the car spoke up.  
  
"You can't do that! Freedom of the press! The people have a right to know!" The reporter said bravely. Trunks scowled thunderously.  
  
"Bullshit! 'The People' don't have a right to know every little thing that happens in my personal life! I'm entitled to privacy too." Trunks snapped. "Now...why don't you boys run along before I decide to go and buy your newspaper companies just to fire your sorry asses." Trunks told them, and removed his foot.  
  
"You can't stop us from printing those pictures Mr. Briefs! But you can still make a statement. Like have you set a date?" The reporter called out. Trunks stuck his foot out to stop the elevator doors then leaned against them, arms still folded.  
  
"I can still make a statement." Trunks repeated. "Now why would I want to go and do that? I mean...there's nothing to make a statement about right now because you fucking idiots just ruined it. You want my statement?" Trunks asked them voice rising, as the photographers shrank back from him. He stepped back from the elevator doors and held out his fist, his middle finger extended. He ginned at them maliciously one last time as the doors slid shut. "And you can quote me."  
  
***  
  
Marron shut her eyes tightly against the flashes as blinding spots of color superimposed themselves on her eyelids. She wanted to scream with frustration and anger at the injustice of having a special private moment in their lives ruined. She felt the velvet box with the ring slide from her grasp as she tried to get her eyes to work again and find out what was going on. She heard Trunks yelling at the photographers as he moved away from her side. She slid out of the booth as well as the photographers and reporter fled from a furious Trunks. She wanted to flee too, but for a very different reason. She moved in the opposite direction from Trunks and the reporters across the restaurant until she came a door marked 'sky walk'.  
  
She rushed through it blindly and suddenly found herself leaning over the railing of the narrow catwalk that circled the tower dome. She grasped the railing white knuckled as she felt all the blood run out of her face and her knees felt rubbery as she was looking straight down into open space. She tried forcing her hands to open, to let go of the railing so she could go back inside, but it seemed she was unable to. Her hands had a mind of their own as they clamped down hard on the metal railing. She closed her eyes against the double whammy of vertigo and nausea and she sagged to the floor of the catwalk. Pressing her forehead to the cold metal of the railing she still clung to. The night wind slightly chilly as it pinkened her cheeks.  
  
So close...she had come so close to telling Trunks about his child, just to have the moment ruined. Who knew when she'd ever work up the courage to tell him again? And he'd said he loved her, that part had barely registered in the shock of his proposal. He loved her and wanted her to be his wife...but would he still feel the same when she told him he was going to be a father? What if he didn't want it? What would she do then? She squeezed her eyes shut tightly. To be torn between two such extremes of emotion: Joy and Misery. Joy that she was with Trunks, that she loved him and now he loved her too. Joy that she had all the things she thought she ever wanted. Joy that she was going to have a baby, but misery too. Because she didn't know how Trunks would feel about it.  
  
"He loves me..." She whispered to the night wind as she sat on the cold concrete floor of the catwalk in her beautiful expensive dress. "Everything will be okay...because he loves me and I love him." It became like a mantra to her.   
  
"Marron? Where are you?" She heard Trunks' voice from far away, calling to her from inside the restaurant. She tried to let go of the railing, to get up and go in and join him. She could imagine it clearly in her mind. She would step into his strong arms and press her fingers to his lips, telling him that she loved him too. But she couldn't accept his proposal without telling him something that would change their lives.  
  
"I'm pregnant." She whispered aloud into the sleeve of her dress as she clung with raised arms to the metal railing. And felt the cold clunk of panic set in at admitting it aloud - even to herself - for the first time. She started shaking, even as her mind imagined Trunks swinging her in his arms as he smiled with happiness, tears of joy running down his face. She was going to have a baby. "My God...what am I going to do?" She whined quietly. Not really expecting an answer from Dende. He'd pretty much left her to muddle through on her own so far; she didn't expect him to jump in and save her now that things were tough.  
  
"Marron! Are you all right?" Trunks asked worriedly as he crouched beside her, putting his hand on her shoulder. "What happened?" She looked up into his handsome concerned face. Her mind replaying a thousand images of him and their life together: smiling at her, laughing with her, slumped in his overstuffed chair asleep with an open book on those nights he tried waiting up for her to come home from a gig, making love to her - his face transported with passion. She felt tears sting the back of her eyes...she loved him so much.  
  
"I can't let go." She said in a small voice, two tears slipping from the corners of her eyes. Trunks put his arms around her, kneeling on the dirty concrete with her in his tuxedo.   
  
"It's all right Marron. I've got you." He told her gently, taking her weight onto himself rather than on her arms. "Hold on to me." He murmured softly into her ear over and over, rubbing her back soothingly until finally her cramped fingers unclenched and she let go of the railing and wrapped her arms around his neck tightly. He stood, taking her with him as he held her securely against him. At that moment he wanted nothing more than to go downstairs and kick himself some serious reporter ass for upsetting his girlfriend this much, for ruining his perfect plan.   
  
He'd found her ring on the table when he went back and discovered she was gone, and he pocketed it before going to look for her. When he found her on the catwalk huddled and clinging to the railing he felt his anger renewed. It wasn't fair, just because he was President of Capsule Corporation didn't mean that he had given up his right to a private life. To the reasonable assumption that he and Marron's business was no one's but their own. Not to mention finally getting up the nerve to spit out his feelings as well as his intentions to her and to what end? To have it end up all over the newspapers to be discussed and speculated about before they had even made a decision themselves. Well, he wasn't going to let them take he and Marron's special night away, it wasn't too late for him to still be romantic. To make it special.  
  
"Let's get out of here. You okay if I fly?" He asked her. She pulled her face away from where it had been buried in his shoulder slightly and nodded weakly. He scooped her up in his arms like she was nothing, the velvet of her dress soft and warm. "Just close your eyes, I won't let anything happen to you."   
  
He flew them to the building he'd taken her to the last (and first) time he took her flying. The night he ran into her at the club. It seemed so long ago, yet it was less than two months. Two months ago he hadn't even been sure how he felt about her, only that she had shown back up in his life beautiful and alluring. And now she was everything to him. He landed in the middle of the of the building's observation deck, well away from the railings or the edge. He was reluctant to put her down; he liked holding her in his arms, but set her gently on her feet before folding his arms around her waist. Inhaling the sweet scent of her hair as he held her. He heard her voice softly, muffled in his neck.  
  
"What?" He asked. She pulled her face away from him and watched him looking no higher than his mouth. Her eyes were bright and shiny as she gazed at him, her hair tousled from the wind.  
  
"I'm -I..." She whispered, her voice trailing off to nothing. He smiled and kissed her softly, letting his lips linger against hers a moment. "I love you Trunks." She said finally, her voice barely above a whisper.  
  
"I love you too." He replied softly, brushing some stray strands of hair that'd come loose from her clip off her face before kissing her again. "So much Marron. I wanted tonight to be perfect, something for us to remember forever."   
  
"Oh I'll remember it all right." Marron said with an ironic little laugh. Trunks smiled as he leaned his forehead against hers.  
  
"We've kind of hit a bump in the way I had the evening planned, but I was thinking that we could try this again. No interruptions." Trunks said, and swallowed as he reached in his pocket for the small velvet box. Marron's eyes widened as she chewed her lips nervously and put her hand on the arm he had in his pocket.  
  
"No, wait." She said, but Trunks shook his head bringing out her ring and taking her hands again, pressing the ring box into her palm. "Trunks-"  
  
"This isn't any easier the second time, I have to get it out before something happens." Trunks interrupted with a small laugh. Marron was making a low keening sound in the back of her throat as she looked at their clasped hands. "I love you Marron. I know that you are the one I want to spend the rest of my life with. You make me happy and I want to make you happy too..." He paused.  
  
"Trunks..." She whispered. He continued on, ignoring her.  
  
"Will you be my wife?" He finished, looking into her beautiful starlit face. It wasn't the candlelight and romantic music he'd hoped for, but he thought he pulled it off fairly well. Marron took a deep breath; she could feel a buzzing in her head as she curled her fist tightly around the ring box. Please let this be okay...  
  
"I'm pregnant." She squeaked, blood rushing to her face as Trunks stared at her.  
  
"I'm sorry?" He queried, like he hadn't understood her.  
  
"I said I'm pregnant." She repeated, her voice a little more steady this time. Trunks looked stunned as he let go of her hands and took a step back.  
  
"What? How...?" He asked absently. She gave him a look and he shook his head as though clearing it. "I know HOW it happened, I mean how long have you known?" She looked down at her own hands still holding the ring box.  
  
"I got my test results today. Harmon got me the weekend off from the band because of it." She said quietly. Trunks ran a hand through his hair, still trying to process the news.   
  
"When?" Marron felt the threat of tears behind her eyes again as she studied the ring box in her hand. This wasn't the reaction she'd wanted or hoped for from Trunks, but she realized it was the one she should have expected. It was after all, quite the bomb she'd just dropped on him.  
  
"Practically the first time we were together." She told him, trying to keep her voice steady. He said nothing and she was afraid to look at him as fat tears started sliding down her cheeks to the corners of her lips. "I'm sorry." She sobbed quietly and held out the ring box to him with her left hand her eyes lowered.  
  
"What are you doing?" He asked her.  
  
"Giving you your ring back. I knew you'd change your mind if I told you." She said her voice wavering. Trunks took the box from her and opened it. Fishing the ring out of the little slot in the black velvet. He caught her hand as it was dropping to her side and he slipped the ring on her finger before she even knew what was happening. He pulled her toward him and kissed her deeply, holding her head in his hands.  
  
"Nothing has changed. I love you and I want you to marry me, Marron. Now you tell me I'm going to be a father too. I think the only way you could possibly make me happier than I am right now is if you told me I didn't have to be Capsule Corp. President anymore." He said with little laugh.  
  
"You could always quit and be my groupie." She joked through her tears. Trunks pulled her tight against him; he couldn't be close enough to her as he wiped her tears away gently with his thumb.  
  
"I just want to be your husband." He told her, and picked up her left hand where the ring sparkled even in the dim starlight and diffused glow of the city. He twined his fingers with hers, clasping her hand. "Marry me." He asked urgently.   
  
Marron looked at him and promptly burst into new tears, the emotion of the day and her hormones taking over. Trunks hugged her to him tightly lowering his face to her hair. "I would do anything for you." He whispered into her hair, as she sobbed happily against the shoulder of his tuxedo jacket.  
  
"Does this mean yes?" He asked her. She pulled her head back and looked at him, smiling even as tears ran down her face.  
  
"Yes this means yes! A million times over yes!" She cried, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him. "I love you Trunks." She told him and he swung her around a moment smiling before folding her back into his embrace as they stood on the roof. He swayed with her in his arms as they held each other and he couldn't stop smiling.  
  
"Havin' my baby...  
What a lovely way of sayin' how much you love me."   
  
Trunks sang softly to her as he grinned. Marron groaned. Trunks was the most musically inept man she'd ever met. He couldn't dance because he had no rhythm and he definitely couldn't sing. "Trunks...don't sing." She pleaded. Ignoring her, Trunks kept going in his off key voice.   
  
"Havin' my baby...  
What a lovely way of sayin' what you're thinkin' of me..."  
  
He looked down at her as she rested her head on his shoulder. "What? You don't think I can sing?" He asked in mock offense. She smiled and chuckled softly.  
  
"I KNOW you can't sing, Trunks." She said laughing. He returned the smile. He knew he couldn't sing, but now she was smiling and laughing instead of crying and that more than made up for embarrassing himself. He tipped her chin up and brought his lips down on hers softly.  
  
"Then I guess I'll just leave the singing in the family to you then." He teased and rubbed her nose with his. A loud rumbling from Trunks' midsection interrupted them. Trunks looked mildly embarrassed as Marron giggled at him.   
  
"I'm sorry you missed your dinner." She said.  
  
"Not your fault. It's those morons fault. I had the whole evening all planned out for you too. A romantic candlelight dinner, soft music, maybe a little dancing, I was going to sweep you off your feet." Trunks said with a crooked grin. "Or at least try not to step on them. I'd propose. Then I was going to take you home and really pour on the charm." He told her with a wicked grin and raised eyebrows. "I'm sorry it got ruined."  
  
Marron wrapped her arms around his waist under his jacket, tucking her head under his chin. "It's not ruined. You did sweep me off my feet, and as far as the dinner goes...pizza in bed is way more romantic anyway."   
  
"Oh really?" Trunks asked with a slow smile as he picked her up in his arms. She gave him an equally wicked grin as she wrapped her arms around his neck.  
  
"Only one way to find out...besides, I want to see that charm." She told him.  
  
***  
  
Author's Note: The song is Paul Anka if anyone cares. O.o Chapter 18 in the works...and we've still got a loonnng way to go. Questions and comments all cheerfully received at: Kinomi@faeriefloss.net Jaa ne! ^__^ 


	18. What about...?

***  
  
The pattering sound of rain on the window pulled Marron slowly from sleep and she rolled over, almost falling out of bed face first onto the floor. She looked blearily over her shoulder to see Trunks had for all intents and purposes taken over the bed as he sprawled out on his stomach. Crowding her over to the very edge until there was nowhere else to go but the floor. With some not so gentle nudges to the ribs he finally curled on his side letting her reclaim a narrow strip of the bed for herself. She propped her pillow up against the headboard and sat up now that she was awake. Folding her hands on her stomach she watched the early morning rain over her bent knees a moment before her gaze fell to her hands. Namely the diamond glittering on her finger and she raised her hand to look at it.  
  
It was the first opportunity she'd had to really look at her ring. It had been dark in the restaurant, and on the roof when Trunks had given it to her the night before. The ring was breathtaking, sparkling even in the rainy gloom and she felt sort of giddy all over again that she was engaged to Trunks. Or was that queasy? As her stomach flopped around. She straightened her legs and slid her hands down over her flat abdomen. It still seemed hard to believe that she was going to have a baby. And a part Saiyajin baby at that. She wondered if that meant it would be different than a normal pregnancy...or if her baby would have a tail. She realized the people most likely to have these answers would be ChiChi, Videl, and Trunks' mother. She would be especially curious to know what Videl would have to say since Pan was a quarter Saiyajin like her child would be. Marron absently rubbed her belly as she wondered just how big she would get before her child would be born. How long would she still be able to play her guitar, or would she not even be able to perform at all. And what it all would mean to her musical career.  
  
"My Maro-chan is frowning. Not a good sign." She heard Trunks say softly beside her. She looked over with a guilty smile.   
  
"Just thinking." She told him.  
  
"Hmmm...thinking." He mused aloud and scooted closer to her before reaching up to kiss her. He rested his head on her abdomen like a pillow as he lay on his side and looked up at her. "Thinking about what?" She shrugged as she ran her fingers through his hair. He closed his eyes briefly, enjoying having his hair played with. He turned his head and kissed the soft skin of her belly with a smile at the thought of his child inside of her.  
  
"Thinking about the baby?" He asked. She nodded still playing with his hair. "You don't seem very happy about it." He said evenly.  
  
"I am." She answered quickly. Trunks waited watching her.  
  
"But?" He prompted when she didn't elaborate. She bit her lip a moment.  
  
"It's all happening so fast Trunks. It seems like a dream or a fairy tale. Two months ago I hadn't seen you in years, now we're together, and engaged and the baby... It's just overwhelming. A month ago the biggest issue in my life was how was I going to tell my father I'm a musician, now I have to tell him I'm engaged and going to have a baby too. I just don't know what he'll say about it. He's not overly fond of your father you know." She said.   
  
Trunks chuckled. "Nobody's overly fond of my father except for my mother."   
  
"And what is your father going to say about you marrying me? What about your mother? And when are we going to tell everyone? And which should we tell first - your folks or mine? We haven't even decided when to get married. Although we probably shouldn't wait too long or I'll look like a big fat rhino in a wedding dress." Marron babbled nervously. Trunks reached up and pulled her down into his arms to lie nose to nose with him as he smiled.  
  
"Slow down there missy. One thing at a time." He chided her, trying not to laugh. "Don't you worry about what my folks might say...they aren't marrying you. I am. Whenever you want to get married is fine with me. The sooner the better as far as I'm concerned." He said and kissed her.  
  
"When do you think we should tell everyone?" She asked. Trunks purred softly at her as he let his lips linger near hers, the sound of which always melted her like butter.  
  
"Well...thanks to those idiots last night everyone probably already knows. We should still go and tell our parents in person, especially about the baby, but I think all that can wait until tomorrow. Besides, I want my one day to laze around and have you all to myself." Trunks murmured with a grin and rubbed her nose with his. "My beautiful Maro-chan...my little mother."   
  
"Hmmm, you say that now - but will you still be buttering me up with compliments when I look like a beached whale?" She asked dubiously.   
  
"Of course. You will always be beautiful to me no matter what Marron...because I love you." He told her. She smiled at him as she felt her heart flutter. He was so sweet.   
  
"So you're sure you're really happy about it then?" She asked hesitantly. Trunks put his hand on her belly, flat now but in the coming months it would swell with their growing child, and kissed her.  
  
"Absolutely. I never thought I would be, or even really thought about it at all before you told me, but I really am. Somehow, I guess I never thought I'd have kids, probably because I hadn't ever met the right woman. Now that I have I can't wait to be a father... I want to do better." He finished in a quiet thoughtful voice.  
  
"Better?"   
  
"I want the chance to be a better father than I had. I never want our child to wonder for even one second if their father loves them." Trunks said quietly, his expression hard. Marron laid her hand on his cheek and kissed him softly.  
  
"They never will Trunks. Because you're already a more caring and loving person than your father could ever be, and there's nothing wrong with that. You're a good man Trunks...even when you're being insufferable." She teased him. Trunks looked at her with a feigned expression of outrage.  
  
"When am I EVER insufferable?" He demanded.  
  
Marron giggled. "What? You want the list?" With a playful growl Trunks rolled on top of her, pinning her underneath him. His questing fingers going to her sides to tickle her as Marron shrieked with laughter.  
  
"What was that about a list?" He challenged, tickling her until she could hardly breathe. He stopped well before he caused her any real discomfort and looked down on her fondly as she gasped for breath, tears trickling out of the corners of her eyes from laughing. He brushed the hair off her forehead gently as her giggles trailed off and she looked up at him. "I love you so much." He whispered.  
  
Marron trembled slightly at the emotion in Trunks' voice. "I love you too Trunks." She replied. She reached up and put her hand on the back of his neck, pulling him down to her kiss. Giving herself up to the ever-present passion between them, as Trunks rolled with her so he was on the bottom. He was right, there would be time enough later to think about the future. As Marron let herself be carried away by Trunks' ardor she ignored the little nagging voice in the back of her mind. *What about my music...?*  
  
***  
  
"What about the band? She can't do this to me again!"   
  
In a small apartment across town from Trunks and Marron's a very different conversation was going on. Shiro thwacked the picture in the paper of Trunks and Marron taken in the restaurant for emphasis as Aya looked at it. She was starting to be sorry she'd shown it to her new boyfriend. They had been having such a nice morning hanging out watching cartoons and cuddling. Now Shiro was pacing and agitated. She tucked a long strand of her curly green hair behind her ear and looked up at him.  
  
"The article just says that Trunks possibly proposed to her Shiro, that's all. What is she 'doing' to you?" Aya questioned gently, but Shiro wasn't hearing her.  
  
"This is gonna be just like last time...I know it." He muttered. Aya stood, tossing the paper aside and planted herself in the path of Shiro's pacing. When he stopped she put her hands on his shoulders.  
  
"What's just like last time Shiro? You've never told me about what happened between you and Marron and your relationship." Aya said. Shiro's handsome aquiline features contorted a moment as he turned his face away. Aya didn't need him to tell her that whatever happened was still a sore spot with him, even if he and Marron had supposedly remained friends.   
  
"It's not really something you want to tell a new girlfriend about Aya." Shiro told her. She squeezed his shoulders lightly and gave him an encouraging smile.  
  
"Then tell a friend."   
  
Shiro sat on his couch and ran a hand carelessly through his unruly hair, as Aya sat quietly beside him waiting.   
  
"I met Marron half way through my junior year of college and the beginning of her sophomore one. I was in this band, a really crappy one too, and Marron answered the ad we had for a rhythm guitarist along with a bunch of guys. She was the only girl too." Shiro began haltingly, then with more confidence as he warmed to his story. "She was so green - you could tell she'd never performed in front of people before. She was nervous as all hell and made mistakes that made the other guys auditioning laugh at her, she almost looked like she was going to cry but she didn't, she just toughed it out. The more she played the more confident she got, and the more confident she got the better she played. I knew at that moment that I was in the presence of real talent. I wanted to give her the gig, but the other guys didn't want a pretty girl in the band that would piss off their girlfriends." Shiro said with a small laugh. Aya smiled in response.  
  
"When the other guys in the band sent her packing I went after her, asked her if she wanted to go get something to eat with me. She did and we ended up spending about four hours together in this cruddy little diner on Royal Street just talking about music and stuff. I told her the other members of the band were idiots and I wanted to give her the job. And I remember she just smiled at me. I think that was the moment I fell in love with her. Beyond the fact that she's beautiful and talented, there's just something about her. You can't help but like her, you know?" Shiro said.  
  
"I know what you mean. By the end of that first day she rehearsed with us I felt like I'd known her forever." Aya agreed.  
  
"I asked for her number, asked her if she wanted to jam together or go out sometime. She gave me her number and I called her a couple of hours later to ask her out on a date. She was really shy back then, she'd never had a boyfriend before or even been around that many people. I guess she grew up way out in the boondocks or something. She was just so sweet it didn't even register to me that we'd gone out a month before I worked up the nerve to kiss her. And you just forgave her for the little things she did. Like we'd been dating for a few months before I found out that her folks didn't even know she was a music major. I'd let her keep her guitars and music stuff at my place. At the time I didn't even mind - it meant another opportunity to see her. It would come to bother me a lot later on that she kept that whole part of her life - music, me - separate from her family. But in the early days it didn't.   
I'd quit the band that Marron had auditioned for because another band, a better band approached me. I was pretty hot shit back then in college, pretty well known. I told them I'd join if they took Marron too. They gave me some shit about carrying my girlfriend - like that rocker that made his wife the keyboardist in their band even though she couldn't play her way out of a paper sack - remember the one?" Shiro asked.  
  
"I think so." Aya said.  
  
"Anyway, they all shut up really fast when Marron went in there and blew them all away. I may have gotten her a foot in the door with them, but she definitely proved herself. That first band we were in together lasted about two months before it self-destructed. So Marron and I started our own. By then we were pretty serious, we'd been going out for about six months. I was crazy about her. I wanted her to move in with me and I about fell on my ass in shock when she said she would. We were really happy together for about a year, living together, writing music and playing. Then it started going bad." Shiro sighed. Aya reached out and touched his cheek softly.  
  
"What happened?" She questioned. Shiro caught her hand and held it in his, studying it.  
  
"I suppose it's my fault really. Marron never lied to me; she never pretended that what we had was any more than it was. We were a lot of firsts for each other though, you know? I was her first serious boyfriend, her first lover. And to me she was my first love, the first woman I was ever really head over heels in love with. I kept thinking that if I was her first lover then I should have been her first love too, but I wasn't. HE was always there even then. Trunks Briefs. I guess she'd had a crush on him when she was younger too - she said she was over it - but I could tell she was fooling herself. You could see it in the way her eyes would light up if she saw his picture in the paper, or if her Uncle mentioned him when she talked to him on the phone. It bugged the hell out of me. I admit it, I was totally jealous of a guy I'd never met and she hadn't seen in a couple of years. It was dumb of me and I had no reason to be jealous, even Marron kept saying I had no reason to feel the way I did. She said she cared about me and was happy with me and why wasn't that enough? But it wasn't and it made me do dumb things. I kept trying to make her prove something I know now she didn't have to. I kept giving her these ultimatums: 'If you really loved me you'd tell your folks about me' kind of stuff." Shiro told her thoughtfully.  
  
"I made us both miserable. I'd graduated a couple of months before and I worked and supported us. Marron kept saying she'd get a job too to help pay the bills, but I was a jerk and told her no. Truth was I liked her needing me for at least something, since she sure didn't seem to need me emotionally. I was playing the martyr. We were in another band by then and really popular. The band was good too - almost as good as what we have now. We had a real chance at making it big if we'd really worked and committed ourselves. But Marron was in her senior year then and was really cranking out the credits so she could graduate early. She didn't want to commit to playing gigs every weekend and driving all over to play any chance we got with no notice. I think the strain of trying to make her folks happy, and make me happy was getting to her. Marron's one of those people that likes to see everyone happy you know. Well, I bullied her into playing when she should have been studying and working on her senior project. And I know I shouldn't have done it because she was really angry and resentful toward me about it. Scared the crap out of me too because for the first time I was like 'I could lose her'. I apologized later, but the damage was done. She and I were never the same. A couple of weeks later we actually got offered a recording deal, I was so happy - I mean this is what we'd worked so hard for right?"   
  
Aya nodded in agreement.  
  
"I told Marron about it expecting her to be as happy about it as I was. She wasn't, she was afraid of her folks finding out she was in a band. We had a huge fight about it, but Marron absolutely refused to record and go on tour with us. I told her that tore it, she had to pick - either she was in the band and with me or she wasn't. I threw down the gauntlet on our whole relationship based on the deal for the band...in or out, I told her. Me and the band or nothing..." Shiro trailed off, then chuckled ruefully. "Boy did that ever blow up in my face. She packed her stuff up that night and left. Eventually we talked and made up enough that we're still friends."  
  
"What happened to the record deal?" Aya asked him softly. Shiro put his arm around her, pulling her against his side.  
  
"Gone the minute Marron left the band. She was singing lead in that band, and she was the real talent. She always has been. I might have been a better musician than she was for about a month after we met before she left my sorry ass in the dust. She is the best musician I have ever worked with in my life Ai, no offense intended."   
  
"None taken. I know she's good." Aya told him with a fading smile as she watched him relive he and Marron's relationship in his mind. "Are you still in love with her?" She asked neutrally. Shiro gave a crooked smile and kissed her forehead as he squeezed her shoulders.  
  
"I asked myself that very same question a lot when she first started playing with us. I know there is a part of me that will always love her because she was my first love, but no. I'm not IN love with her anymore."  
  
"Then what's the problem with her marrying Trunks?" Aya asked him.  
  
"Maybe nothing, but I know Marron. He's more important to her than music is. And I'm afraid the first time he snaps his fingers she's gonna be gone. And we're so close Aya...so close to really making it this time. You've read the reviews of our last few shows, we're generating some real interest among the record companies and it's only a matter of time before we get a deal I can feel it." Shiro told her emphatically. "But if we do it'll probably be because of Marron."  
  
"No it won't. Shiro...you're a better songwriter than you give yourself credit for. Marron's good, don't get me wrong - but don't sell yourself short." Aya told him. Shiro tipped her chin up and gave her a kiss.  
  
"That's sweet of you to say Ai. I appreciate the sentiment, but Marron's the real deal. Can you imagine how good she'd be if she really applied herself?"  
  
"Humph." Aya grunted noncommittally, still annoyed that Shiro seemed determined to underrate his own talent in comparison to Marron.  
  
"I just...I just don't know if I could handle coming so close to making it again and then lose out because of Marron's priorities, that's all." Shiro said with a sigh, his shoulders slumping. Aya wrapped her arms around his waist, offering him comfort and support the only way she knew how.  
  
"You don't know Shiro. It might not happen that way. Marron's been there for us so far. Maybe marrying Trunks will be a good thing for her. Maybe it will give her the confidence to say to hell with what her folks or anyone else thinks and she can really go for it with us." She said.   
  
"Or she could dump us to become a housewife." Shiro commented dryly. "First the wig, and the calling her 'Kuri' nonsense and now this...she'll never change. Mark my words, she's gonna do it to me all over again."  
  
Aya rested her head on his chest with a silent sigh. He seemed determined to expect the worst to happen no matter what she said.  
  
*Oh Marron...I just hope for all our sakes you never have to choose between your love, and what you love to do.*  
  
***  
  
Author' Notes: There's three chapters in a row of this fic, and it may be on a short break while I work on TLO and Gohan's Legacy a bit. We'll see. Reviews and comments appreciated.  
  
Jaa ne! 


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